Pseudomys Temporal range: Late Miocene - Recent | |
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Sandy inland mouse (Pseudomys hermannsburgensis) | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Rodentia |
Family: | Muridae |
Tribe: | Hydromyini |
Genus: | Pseudomys Gray, 1832 |
Type species | |
Pseudomys australis | |
Species | |
Pseudomys albocinereus Contents |
Pseudomys is a genus of rodent that contains a wide variety of mice native to Australia and New Guinea. They are among the few terrestrial placental mammals that colonised Australia without human intervention.
This genus contains a number of species with different habits making generalisation difficult. The overall body size varies widely, ranging from 60 to 160 mm. The tail is 60–180 mm and the weight is recorded from 12 to 90 g. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats from rainforests to plains and grasslands. The animals are nocturnal and spend the day in burrows. Food also varies with some species eating seeds, roots and insects while others feed primarily on grasses. The pebble-mound mice are unique in creating mounds of stones around their burrows. Several species of Pseudomys are threatened due to competition with introduced species and habitat destruction. Several others are probably extinct.
The name Pseudomys means "false mouse" [1] presumably in reference to both its similarity and uniqueness from "true mice" in the genus Mus .
Genus Pseudomys - Australian native mice
A hopping mouse is any of about ten different Australian native mice in the genus Notomys. They are rodents, not marsupials, and their ancestors are thought to have arrived from Asia about 5 million years ago.
Gould's mouse, also known as the Shark Bay mouse and djoongari in the Pintupi and Luritja languages, is a species of rodent in the murid family. Once ranging throughout Australia from Western Australia to New South Wales, its range has since been reduced to five islands off the coast of Western Australia.
The long-tailed mouse is a native Australian mammal in the Order Rodentia and the Family Muridae. It is found only on the island of Tasmania. The long-tailed mouse is an omnivore that feeds on insects and a range of plants. It is found in forested areas, particularly in sub-alpine scree, and may live in burrows.
The plains rat(Pseudomys australis), also known as the palyoora, plains mouse and eastern mouse, is a conilurine rodent native to arid and semi-arid Australia. Referred to as the pallyoora or yarlie by Indigenous groups, the plains rat was once widely distributed across central Australia, including north-west New South Wales and south-west Queensland; however, habitat degradation due to grazing, introduced predators and drought have contributed to its decline. Consequently, the plains rat has been listed as 'presumed extinct' in New South Wales and Victoria, 'endangered' in the Northern Territory and Queensland and 'vulnerable' in Western Australia and South Australia. While recent research has indicated the presence of the plains rat in areas such as the Fowlers Gap and Strzelecki Desert regions of New South Wales and within the Diamantina National Park in Queensland, there are only five sub-populations currently recognised nationally, none of which coincide with recent discoveries of the plains rat. As the current population trend of the plains rat has been listed as 'declining' by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the IUCN conservation status for the species is 'vulnerable'.
The Forrest's mouse, or desert short-tailed mouse, is a small species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is a widespread but sparsely distributed species found across arid and semi-arid inland Australia, commonly found in tussock grassland, chenopod shrubland, and mulga or savannah woodlands.
The ash-grey mouse is a rodent in the family Muridae. Larger and more robust than Mus musculus, the common house mouse, it is found only in Southwest Australia.
The silky mouse is a small, nocturnal rodent native to the western and northwestern regions of Victoria, Australia. Weighing 16-22 grams, it has light blue-grey fur flecked with light brown and black guard hairs, and a white underside. Known for its complex burrows, the Silky Mouse favors floristically rich mallee-heath environments, especially areas near Banksia ornata, due to consistent soil moisture and food availability. The silky mouse primarily feeds on seeds, nectar, flowers, and insects. Though threatened by habitat destruction and fires, conservation efforts have led to population recovery.
Western pebble-mound mouse or Ngadji is a burrowing and mound building rodent in the family Muridae. They occur in the Pilbara, a remote region in the northwest of Australia.
The little native mouse, also known as the delicate mouse, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. The Kunwinjku people of western Arnhem Land call this little creature kijbuk.
The desert mouse, also known as the brown desert mouse, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is endemic to Australia. The first desert mouse specimen was collected by Australian zoologist Gerard Krefft on the Blandowski Expedition in 1856-57, between Gol Gol Creek and the Darling River.
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 western mouse or walyadji is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. Once widespread across a larger range, it has become restricted to around ten reserves of remnant bushland in Southwest Australia and declared near threatened by extinction. They are small and robust mice that live in burrows in sandy soil, venturing out at night to forage in nearby area.
The country mouse also known as the pebble-mound mouse or eastern pebble mound mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It lives only in Australia, where it is considered rare. It was described by Thomas and Dollman in 1909.
The central pebble-mound mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae, native to Australia. The Kimberley mouse was, until recently, considered distinct from P. johnsoni, but they are now known to be conspecific. It is one of the pebble-mound mice.
Pebble-mound mice are a group of rodents from Australia in the genus Pseudomys. They are small, brownish mice with medium to long, often pinkish brown tails. Unlike some other species of Pseudomys, they construct mounds of pebbles around their burrows, which play an important role in their social life.
Hydromyini is a very large, diverse tribe of muroid rodents in the subfamily Murinae. They are the dominant native rodents in Australasia and one of only two native rodent groups there, the other being the R. fuscipes group of the genus Rattus in the tribe Rattini. They are also found in parts of Southeast Asia.