The silver dik-dik (''Madoqua piacentinii'') is a small antelope found in low, dense thickets along the southeastern coast of

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

and in '' Acacia-

Commiphora The genus of the myrrhs, ''Commiphora'', is the most species-rich genus of flowering plants in the frankincense and myrrh family, Burseraceae. The genus contains approximately 190 species of shrubs and trees, which are distributed throughout the ...

'' bushland in the

Shebelle Valley The Shebelle Valley ( so, Dooxada Shabeelle), also spelled Shabeelle Valley, is a valley in the Horn of Africa. It follows the line of the Shebelle River north from the Somali Sea through Somalia and into Ethiopia. Along with the Jubba Valley a ...

in southeastern

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. It is the smallest species of

dik-dik A dik-dik is the name for any of four species of small antelope in the genus ''Madoqua'' that live in the bushlands of eastern and southern Africa. Dik-diks stand about at the shoulder, are long, weigh and can live for up to 10 years. Dik- ...

, with a length of , a height of , and a weight of . Kingdon, J. (1997). ''The Kingdon Guide to African Mammals.'' Academic Press. Its back and flanks are grizzled silvery, while the limbs, ears, and muzzle are ochraceus in colour. Little is known about its status, but numbers are believed to be decreasing. Together with the closely related

Salt's dik-dik Salt's dik-dik (''Madoqua saltiana'') is a small antelope found in semidesert, bushland, and thickets in the Horn of Africa, but marginally also in northern Kenya and eastern Sudan. It is named after Henry Salt, who was the first European to ...

, this species forms the subgenus ''Madoqua'' in the genus ''Madoqua'' (other

s are also in the genus ''Madoqua'', but the subgenus ''Rhynchotragus'').Ansell, W. F. H. (1972). Order Artiodactyla. Part 15. Pp. 1-84. ''in'': Meester, J., and H. W. Setzer, eds (1972). ''The mammals of Africa: An identification manual''Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. The

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. ...

of this subgenus is complex and a matter of dispute. Though most recent authorities treat the silver dik-dik as a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

species, the silver dik-dik has been suggested as a subspecies of Swayne's dik-dik (itself now usually treated as a subspecies of Salt's dik-dik'').

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q960006 silver dik-dik Mammals of Ethiopia Mammals of Somalia Fauna of the Horn of Africa silver dik-dik