Rock-loving mouse

Rock-loving mouse
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Muridae
Genus:	Mus
Species:	M. saxicola
Binomial name
Mus saxicola Elliot, 1839
Synonyms [1]
Leggada cindrellaWroughton, 1912 Leggada platythrix subsp. sadhuWroughton, 1911 Leggadilla gurkhaThomas, 1914 Mus platythrix subsp. gurkha(Thomas, 1914) Mus platythrix ssp. ramnadensis(Bentham, 1908) Mus platythrix subsp. sadhu(Wroughton, 1911) Mus ramnadensisBentham, 1908 Mus spinulosusBlyth, 1854

The rock-loving mouse (Mus saxicola), also known as the brown spiny mouse, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in India, Nepal, and Pakistan. ^[1]

The following description is by Sir Walter Elliot:

The brown spiny mouse lives entirely in the red gravelly soil in a burrow of moderate depth, generally on the side of a bank. When the animal is inside the entrance is closed with small pebbles, a quantity of which is collected outside, by which its retreat may always be known. The burrow leads to a chamber in which is collected a bed of small pebbles on which it sits, the thick close hair of the belly protecting it from the cold and asperity of such a seat. Its food appears to be vegetable. In its habits it is monogamous and nocturnal. ^[2]

References

1. Molur, S.; Nameer, P.O. (2008). "Mus saxicola". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2008 e.T13979A4377160. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T13979A4377160.en .
2. Elliot, Walter (1884). Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon. London: Thacker & Co. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

• Musser, G. G.; Carleton, M. D. (2005). "Species Mus saxicola". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 1406. ISBN   978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC   62265494.