Mayor's mouse

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Mayor's mouse
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Genus: Mus
Species:
M. mayori
Binomial name
Mus mayori
(Thomas, 1915)
Subspecies

Mus mayori mayori
Mus mayori pococki

Mus mayori Range Map.png

Mus mayori is a species of rodent in the genus Mus , the mice. Its common names include Mayor's mouse, highland rat, [1] and spiny mouse. [2] It is endemic to Sri Lanka. [1]

This mouse lives in tropical and subtropical forest types and wet grassland habitat. It is fossorial, seeking shelter by digging burrows. It is nocturnal. [1]

This species is widespread in parts of Sri Lanka but it faces a number of threats, including deforestation and domestic cats. [1]

There are two subspecies, M. m. mayori and M. m. pococki. A recent study catalogued the parasites associated with subspecies pococki: a mite of genus Echinolaelaps , a tick of genus Ixodes , and the sucking louse Polyplax spinulosa . [3] A new species of pseudoscorpion was found on the mouse, described, and named Megachernes kanneliyensis . [4] The mouse also carries the native Sri Lankan flea Stivalius phoberus . [5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 de A. Goonatilake, W., et al. Mus mayori. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008. Downloaded on 07 January 2016.
  2. ↑ Wijesinghe, M. R. Predicting effects of rainforest fragmentation from live trapping studies of small mammals in Sri Lanka. [ permanent dead link ]Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(6): 2629-2636.
  3. ↑ Ratnaweera, P. B., et al. (2010). Parasitic associations of a threatened Sri Lankan rainforest rodent, Mus mayor pococki (Rodentia: Muridae). [ permanent dead link ]Journal of Threatened Taxa, 2(6), 901-907.
  4. ↑ Harvey, M. S., et al. (2012). A new species of the pseudoscorpion genus Megachernes (Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae) associated with a threatened Sri Lankan rainforest rodent, with a review of host associations of Megachernes. Journal of Natural History, 46(41-42), 2519-2535.
  5. ↑ Yathramullage, S., Meegaskumbura, M., and Meegaskumbura, S. (2014). Record of five new endemic small mammal hosts for four ectoparasite species from Sri Lanka. Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology 17 473-476.


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