''Dasymys'' is a genus of

semiaquatic In biology, semiaquatic can refer to various types of animals that spend part of their time in water, or plants that naturally grow partially submerged in water. Examples are given below. Semiaquatic animals Semi aquatic animals include: * Ve ...

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...

s in the subfamily

Murinae The Old World rats and mice, part of the subfamily Murinae in the family Muridae, comprise at least 519 species. Members of this subfamily are called murines. In terms of species richness, this subfamily is larger than all mammal families excep ...

, the Old World rats and mice. The genus is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

.Monatsb. K. Preuss. Akad. Wiss., Berlin: 12.
''In'': Wilson, D. E. & D. M. Reeder. (eds.) 2005. ''Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference'' (3rd ed). Johns Hopkins University Press. 2005. These rats are

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (Anoxic waters, anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in t ...

habitat specialists, occurring in

marshy A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

areas with wet ground and thick vegetation, such as

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s and

vlei A vlei () is a shallow minor lake, mostly of a seasonal or intermittent nature. It even might refer to seasonal ponds or marshy patches where frogs and similar marsh dwellers breed. Commonly, vleis vary in their extent, or even in the presence ...

s. They swim well. They are nocturnal and solitary.Mullin, S. K., et al. (2004)
Skull size and shape of ''Dasymys'' (Rodentia, Muridae) from sub-Saharan Africa.
''Mammalia'' 68(2-3), 185-220. Species are more common in the northern regions of

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

, likely because their wetland habitat is more degraded in southern regions.Mullin, S. K., et al. (2005)
The distribution of the water rat ''Dasymys'' (Muridae) in Africa: a review.
''South African Journal of Science'' 101(3), 117-24. The genus is not well studied and its

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

is not clear. The number of species and their relationships have only been tentatively determined. Species include: *'' Dasymys alleni'' – Glover Allen's dasymys *'' Dasymys cabrali'' – Crawford-Cabral's dasymys *'' Dasymys foxi'' – Fox's shaggy rat *'' Dasymys incomtus'' – African marsh rat *'' Dasymys montanus'' – Montane shaggy rat *'' Dasymys nudipes'' – Angolan marsh rat *'' Dasymys robertsii'' *'' Dasymys rufulus'' – West African shaggy rat *'' Dasymys rwandae'' – Rwandan dasymys *'' Dasymys shortridgei'' *'' Dasymys sua'' – Tanzanian dasymys

References

Rodents of Africa Rodent genera Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Murinae-stub