[3] The specific name, antsahabensis, derives from the name of the village of Antsahabe, which is near the place where the holotype was found.

[1] Species of Voalavo are small rodents with a delicate skull and without a tuft at the tip of the tail (as present in the closely related genus Eliurus).

[4] The tail is shorter in the eastern voalavo, but the head and body is slightly longer, as is the ear.

Statistical analysis of measurements of the skull and teeth clearly separates the two species of Voalavo.

Goodman and colleagues argued on the basis of this example that rapid surveys may not necessarily yield complete inventories of the fauna of an area.

[1] Anjozorobe is about 450 km (280 mi) from the nearest occurrence of northern voalavo, and most of the intervening area contains montane forest.

However, this forest zone is bisected by the low-lying Mandritsara Window, which may serve as a barrier between the two species of Voalavo.