| Large Japanese field mouse | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Genus: | Apodemus |
| Species: | A. speciosus |
| Binomial name | |
| Apodemus speciosus (Temminck, 1844) | |
The large Japanese field mouse (Apodemus speciosus) is a nocturnal species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is endemic to Japan.
The species appears to be present on all Japanese islands. It inhabits forests, grasslands, and cultivated fields, including rice paddies, at any altitude. [1] Though occupying the same broad ecological niche as A. argenteus, the two species prefer different microhabitats: A. argenteus prefers dense canopy, while A. speciosus prefers open secondary forests. [2]
Large Japanese field mice forage primarily at night, likely to avoid predation. [3] They are omnivores but mostly known to be seed-eating mice, particularly around autumn and winter, as the mice hoard acorns and walnuts, which comprise 13-100% of their food. [4] [5] This makes them effective seed dispersers. Mast seeding can have serious effects on field mouse populations, including increases in overwinter survival, winter reproduction, and population density. [6]
Large Japanese field mice have been observed changing their typical foraging behavior in response to varying light conditions. In response to higher light intensity, A. speciosus significantly decreases time outside of the nest, length of excursions, and food eaten compared to periods of dark. [3] Additionally, the mice tend to carry food back to their nests during periods of light as opposed to eating away from the nest as they normally would in the dark. [3] These behavioral changes are thought to be an adaptation to help the mice avoid potential predators, avoiding, for example, well-lit areas on the ground as they forage at night. Differences in such changes in behavior allow for the fulfillment of specific niches, as is observed between A. speciosus and A. argenteus, which react to light differently because of their differing body size. [3]
Many of the acorns and nuts consumed by this species have high tannin levels, making them highly toxic to rodents in high doses. [7] Large Japanese field mice display specific physiological and behavioral adaptations to deal with this toxicity. A. speciosus is able to acclimate to nuts with high tannin levels by secretion of specialized proteins and recruitment of bacteria to aid in digestion. [8] It also displays a proactive foraging preference for acorns with lower levels of tannin and related proteins. [9] These changes are evolutionarily adaptive by allowing the mice to deal with or avoid tannin consumption.
A. speciosus, like many species of rodents, have shown a degree of learning in their feeding habits. Specifically, wood mice with previous experience eating walnuts are able to eat them more quickly, efficiently, and in greater quantities than mice that had not encountered hard-shelled walnuts. [10] Additionally, mice without previous experience are able to successfully learn more efficient foraging behavior within 14 days of conditioning, a strong indication that foraging behavior is not strictly genetically determined and that trial-and-error may be a contributing mechanism. [10] The behavior is also affected socially, as mice raised in specific environments forage in ways that mice in other environments may not. For example, large Japanese field mice raised in environments with more tannin-rich nuts show greater selectivity than those that do not. [9] Behavioral fluidity and the ability to quickly adapt to environments without the need for evolution, which would take many generations to become apparent, is key for the survival of the mice in varying environments.
A mouse is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse. Mice are also popular as pets. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are locally common. They are known to invade homes for food and shelter.
The dusky hopping mouse, is a small rodent endemic to Australia, inhabiting desert regions characterised by sand dunes. Populations have experienced significant declines since the arrival of Europeans, and continue to be subject to threatening processes. It is currently listed as a threatened species.
The house mouse is a small mammal of the order Rodentia, characteristically having a pointed snout, large rounded ears, and a long and almost hairless tail. It is one of the most abundant species of the genus Mus. Although a wild animal, the house mouse has benefited significantly from associating with human habitation to the point that truly wild populations are significantly less common than the semi-tame populations near human activity.
The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives. It usually contains one seed, enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns are 1–6 cm long and 0.8–4 cm on the fat side. Acorns take between 5 and 24 months to mature; see the list of Quercus species for details of oak classification, in which acorn morphology and phenology are important factors.
The harvest mouse is a small rodent native to Europe and Asia. It is typically found in fields of cereal crops, such as wheat and oats, in reed beds and in other tall ground vegetation, such as long grass and hedgerows. It has reddish-brown fur with white underparts and a naked, highly prehensile tail, which it uses for climbing. It is the smallest European rodent; an adult may weigh as little as 4 grams (0.14 oz). It eats chiefly seeds and insects, but also nectar and fruit. Breeding nests are spherical constructions carefully woven from grass and attached to stems well above the ground.
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 except the Cricetidae and Muridae, and is larger than all mammal orders except the bats and the remainder of the rodents.
The wood mouse is a murid rodent native to Europe and northwestern Africa. It is closely related to the yellow-necked mouse but differs in that it has no band of yellow fur around the neck, has slightly smaller ears, and is usually slightly smaller overall: around 90 mm (3.54 in) in length and 23 g in weight. It is found across most of Europe and is a very common and widespread species, is commensal with people and is sometimes considered a pest. Other common names are long-tailed field mouse, field mouse, common field mouse, and European wood mouse. This species is a known potential carrier of the Dobrava sequence of hantavirus which affects humans and may pose serious risks to human health.
Apodemus is a genus of Muridae. The name is unrelated to that of the Mus genus, instead being derived from the Greek ἀπό-δημος.
Rhabdomys is a largely Southern African genus of muroid rodents slightly larger than house mice. They are known variously as striped or four-striped mice or rats. Traditionally the genus has been seen as a single species, Rhabdomys pumilio, though modern evidence on the basis of karyotype and mtDNA analysis suggests that it comprises two or more species and subspecies. Dorsally Rhabdomys species display four characteristic black longitudinal stripes on a paler background.
The striped field mouse is a rodent in the family Muridae. The range of this species stretches from Eastern Europe to Eastern Asia.
The fiery spiny mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae found in Kenya and Tanzania. Its natural habitats are dry savanna and rocky areas. It may be found as a commensal in human habitations.
The small Japanese field mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is endemic to Japan, spanning from Hokkaido to Kyushu and is similar to its larger counterpart, Apodemus speciosus.
The Taiwan field mouse, also called Formosan wood mouse, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in Taiwan.
The rusty-bellied brush-furred rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, arable land, and pastureland.
The Algerian mouse, also known as the western Mediterranean mouse, is a wild species of mouse closely related to the house mouse, native to open habitats around the western Mediterranean.
The sandy inland mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. Also known as the Hermannsburg (Mission) false-mouse or Hermannsburg mouse, it is endemic to Australia and found widely yet sparsely through arid and semi-arid areas.
The Japanese dormouse is a species of rodent in the family Gliridae endemic to Japan. It is the only extant species within the genus Glirulus. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. In Japanese, it is called yamane. Among dormice, it has the special ability of running at great speed upside down, suspended from branches. Its main food is fruit, insects, berries, nuts, and even flowers. It tends to inhabit arboreal nesting sites to avoid interspecific competition with the small Japanese field mouse because of their sympatric relationship.
Rodents 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 native to all major land masses except for New Zealand, Antarctica, and several oceanic islands, though they have subsequently been introduced to most of these land masses by human activity.
Bartonella japonica is a species of bacteria in the genus Bartonella. A strain of this species was originally isolated from the blood of a small Japanese field mouse.
Apodemini is a tribe of muroid rodents in the subfamily Murinae. It contains two extant genera, one found throughout Eurasia and the other endemic to the Ryukyu Islands. Several fossil genera are also known from throughout Eurasia, including one large species (Rhagamys) that persisted on Sardinia and Corsica up until at least the first millennium BC, when it was likely wiped out by human activity.
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