Despite its biogeographical uniqueness, where two vast savanna regions are separated by the Afromontane mosaic vegetation, there is a significant lack of small mammal sampling in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Leveraging all our available data on rodents and shrews in the region, we tested the hypothesis that the Afromontane mosaic vegetation in the highlands acts as a barrier to gene flow between taxa found in the Somali-Masai and Sudanian savanna in the southeast and western lowland parts of the region, respectively. Morphological and DNA sequence analysis confirmed the presence of 23 species of small rodents and shrews in the region. We recorded 18 of these species in the Afromontane mosaic vegetation, seven species in the Sudanian savanna, and four species in the Somali-Masai savanna. Notably, the fauna of the Sudanian savanna was strikingly different from that of the Somali-Masai savanna at both intraspecific and interspecific levels, suggesting the northern Ethiopian highlands as a very strong biogeographic barrier for taxa adapted to arid lowlands. However, the reported species diversity remains provisional, and additional sampling from unexplored areas is needed. Furthermore, some of the reported taxa, in this study, such as Mus cf. tenellus, Crocidura cf. fuscomurina, Dendromus sp. indet. 2, and Otomys cf. cheesmani, require detailed taxonomic investigation and may represent new species. A robust understanding of the taxonomic diversity and distribution of the small mammals in the region is crucial for effective conservation planning as well as for addressing practical questions related to rodents, such as in public health and pest management.

尽管其生物地理独特，两个广阔的稀树草原地区被非洲山地镶嵌植被隔开，但埃塞俄比亚的提格雷地区仍然严重缺乏小型哺乳动物样本。利用我们关于该地区啮齿动物和鼩鼱的所有可用数据，我们测试了这样一个假设：高地的非洲山地镶嵌植被充当了东南部和西部低地部分索马里-马赛和苏丹稀树草原上发现的类群之间基因流动的屏障分别是该地区的。形态学和 DNA 序列分析证实该地区存在 23 种小型啮齿动物和鼩鼱。我们在非洲山地镶嵌植被中记录了其中 18 个物种，在苏丹稀树草原中记录了 7 个物种，在索马里-马赛稀树草原中记录了 4 个物种。值得注意的是，苏丹稀树草原的动物群在种内和种间水平上都与索马里-马赛稀树草原的动物区系显着不同，这表明埃塞俄比亚北部高地对于适应干旱低地的类群来说是一个非常强大的生物地理屏​​障。然而，报告的物种多样性仍然是临时的，需要从未勘探的地区进行额外的采样。此外，本研究中报告的一些分类群，例如Mus cf。柔韧线虫, Crocidura cf.褐藻属​​索引。 2，和Otomys cf。cheesmani，需要详细的分类学调查，并且可能代表新物种。深入了解该地区小型哺乳动物的分类多样性和分布对于有效的保护规划以及解决与啮齿动物相关的实际问题（例如公共卫生和害虫管理）至关重要。