| Cotton mouse | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Cricetidae |
| Subfamily: | Neotominae |
| Genus: | Peromyscus |
| Species: | P. gossypinus |
| Binomial name | |
| Peromyscus gossypinus (Le Conte, 1850) | |
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| native range | |
| Synonyms | |
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The cotton mouse (Peromyscus gossypinus) is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae [3] found in the woodlands of the US South.
Adults are about 180 mm (7.1 in) long, with a tail around 78 mm (3.1 in), and weigh 34-51 g. Its general appearance is very similar to the white-footed mouse, but the cotton mouse is larger in size and has a longer skull and hind feet. They have dark brown bodies and white feet and bellies. [4]
The common name derives from the observed habit of using raw cotton in building nests. [4]
One subspecies, the Chadwick Beach cotton mouse (P. g. restrictus) was last seen in 1938 and is now presumed extinct. [5] Another subspecies, the Key Largo cotton mouse (P. g. allapaticola) is currently on the United States Fish and Wildlife Service list of endangered species.
The cotton mouse occurs in the Southeastern United States in an area roughly bordered by southeastern Virginia, Florida, Texas, and Kentucky. It makes use of a variety of habitats, including hardwood forests, swamps, the margins of cleared fields, edges of salt savanna and dunes, scrub, and rocky bluffs and ledges. They probably prefer terrain that is regularly inundated. Once native to Illinois, it is now considered extirpated from that state. [1]
Cotton mice use underground refuges such as stump holes, tree cavities, root boles, and burrows where they can avoid predators and wild fires. Such underground refuges also provide lower temperature and humidity during the summer season. [6]
Most Peromyscus species show great decrease in population after fire events through emigration, increase in predation, or from direct damage by fire from loss of habitat/protection. However, due to the behavior of using underground refuges, cotton mice are able to survive with no significant loss of population from the fire. [6]
Cotton mice are omnivorous, and eat seeds and insects. Breeding may occur throughout the year, and usually occurs in early spring and fall. They may have four litters a year of up to seven young, which are helpless and naked at birth. Cotton mice are weaned at 20–25 days, and become sexually mature around two months. Lifespans are four to five months, with a rare few living to one year. They are preyed upon by owls, snakes, weasels, and bobcats. [4] Cotton mice are also parasitized by Cuterebra fontinella , the mouse botfly. [7]
The golden mouse (Ochrotomys nuttalli) has similar characteristics and shares similar habitat and geographic regions with the cotton mouse. The coexistence of the two being possible when sharing similar habitat was due to their use of the common refuges had different daily and seasonal patterns. The cotton mouse shows broader selection in choosing refuges as they switch from one to the other, which is suggested to be the most significant component for such relationship to be possible. [8]
Due to their small population size and reduced chances of reproduction, evidence for cotton mouse hybridizing with white-footed mouse has been found. Although they are known to be conspecific, hybridization will occur when limited options for reproduction are available. Identification through toe-clip sampling made possible finding hybridization between the cotton mouse and the white-footed mouse on a heterozygous GPI-1 marker. [9]
Peromyscus is a genus of rodents. They are commonly referred to as deer mice or deermice, not to be confused with the chevrotain or "mouse deer". They are New World mice only distantly related to the common house and laboratory mouse, Mus musculus. From this relative, Peromyscus species are distinguished by relatively larger eyes, and also often two-tone coloring, with darker colors over the dorsum (back), and white abdominal and limb hair-coloring. In reference to the coloring, the word Peromyscus comes from Greek words meaning "booted mouse". They are also accomplished jumpers and runners by comparison to house mice, and their common name of "deer mouse" is in reference to this agility.
The Neotominae are a subfamily of the family Cricetidae. They consist of four tribes, 16 genera, and many species of New World rats and mice, predominantly found in North America. Among them are the well-known deer mice, white-footed mice, packrats, and grasshopper mice.
Peromyscus maniculatus is a rodent native to eastern North America. It is most commonly called the eastern deer mouse; when formerly grouped with the western deer mouse, it was referred to as the North American deermouse and is fairly widespread across most of North America east of the Mississippi River, with the major exception being the lowland southeastern United States.
The white-footed mouse is a rodent native to North America from southern Canada to the southwestern United States and Mexico. In the Maritimes, its only location is a disjunct population in southern Nova Scotia. It is also known as the woodmouse, particularly in Texas.
The Key Largo woodrat, a subspecies of the eastern woodrat, is a medium-sized rat found on less than 2,000 acres of the northern area of Key Largo, Florida, in the United States. It is currently on the United States Fish and Wildlife Service list of endangered species. Only 6500 animals were thought to remain in North Key Largo in the late 1980s.
The golden mouse is a species of New World mouse. It is usually 5–8 inches (12–25 cm) in body length, and has a soft pelage that ranges from golden-brownish to burnt orange in color. The genus name comes from the Greek words, ochra, meaning "ocher", a yellow or brown earth pigment; oto-, meaning "ear"; and mys, meaning "mouse".
The brush mouse is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in mountainous areas of Mexico and the western United States at altitudes over 2,000 m (6,600 ft).
The tawny deer mouse or marsh mouse is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found only in Mexico.
The oldfield mouse, oldfield deermouse or beach mouse is a nocturnal species of rodent in the family Cricetidae that primarily eats seeds. It lives in holes throughout the Southeastern United States in beaches and sandy fields. Predators to these mice include birds and mammals. In 2016, these mice were in the least concern category on the IUCN Red List with certain subspecies classified as extinct, critically endangered, endangered or near threatened.
The Haile Quarry or Haile sites are an Early Miocene and Pleistocene assemblage of vertebrate fossils located in the Haile quarries, Alachua County, northern Florida. The assemblage was discovered during phosphate mining, which began in the late 1940s. Haile sites are found in the Alachua Formation. Two sites within the Ocala Limestone yielded Upper Eocene Valvatida and mollusks.
Ctenophthalmus pseudagyrtes is a species of fleas in the family Hystrichopsyllidae. It is widespread in North America, east of the Rocky Mountains, and is found mainly on small mammals. In Missouri, it has been recorded on the Virginia opossum, northern short-tailed shrew, eastern mole, raccoon, eastern chipmunk, Florida woodrat, prairie vole, woodland vole, white-footed mouse, including nests, marsh rice rat, hispid cotton rat, house mouse, and brown rat. Hosts recorded in Tennessee include the Virginia opossum, northern short-tailed shrew, eastern mole, eastern chipmunk, southern red-backed vole, rock vole, woodland vole, white-footed mouse, golden mouse, hispid cotton rat, marsh rice rat, and house mouse.
Listrophorus is a genus of parasitic mites in the family Listrophoridae. North American species with their hosts include:
The Key Largo cotton mouse is a subspecies of rodent in the family Cricetidae. The subspecies is endemic to Key Largo in the upper Florida Keys. It is a slightly larger mouse with a more reddish color than other mouse species from mainland Florida. The Key Largo cotton mouse can breed throughout the year and has an average life expectancy of five months.
Cuterebra fontinella, the mouse bot fly, is a species of New World skin bot fly in the family Oestridae. C. fontinella is typically around 1 cm (0.39 in) in length with a black and yellow color pattern. C. fontinella develops by parasitizing nutrients from its host, typically the white-footed mouse. C. fontinella has even been known to parasitize humans in rare cases. Individuals parasitized by C. fontinella will develop a large bump on the skin that is indicative of parasitization.
The western deermouse or western deer mouse is a rodent native to North America. It is widespread throughout the western half of the continent, mainly in areas west of the Mississippi River.
| Authority control databases: National |
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