Steppe mouse

Last updated

Steppe mouse
Mus spicilegus female.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Genus: Mus
Species:
M. spicilegus
Binomial name
Mus spicilegus
Petényi, 1882
MusSpicilegusIUCN.svg
Range of M. spicilegus
  Extant, resident

The steppe mouse or mound-building mouse (Mus spicilegus) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. [2] It is found in grassland and other open areas in Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, albania,

Contents

 Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.

Taxonomy

Mus spicilegus ranges from Austria to Southern Ukraine and Greece. [3] [4] Two subspecies are recognised, M. s. spicilegus, the nominate subspecies occupying most of the range, and M. s. adriaticus, an isolated sub-population on the Adriatic coast. It is one of four species of mice in the Mus subgenus with a western Palearctic distribution, the others being the Macedonian mouse (Mus macedonicus) (Balkans to Palestine and Iran), the Algerian mouse (Mus spretus) (Southern France, Iberian Peninsula, Balearic Islands, Morocco to Tunisia) and the Cypriot mouse (Mus cypriacus) . Based on the molecular clock hypothesis, M. spicilegus and M. macedonicus seem to have diverged quite recently, between 0.29 and 0.17 mya, whereas the lineages giving rise to these and M. spretus diverged around 1 mya. [4]

Description

The head-and-body length is between 70 and 80 mm (2.76 and 3.15 in) and the tail is between 55 and 65 mm (2.17 and 2.56 in) long. The colour is mostly a uniform grey with no hint of redness, but some populations are bicoloured and have paler underparts. The tail is more slender than that of other related species. [5] This mouse is very similar in appearance to the common house mouse (Mus musculus), and the two are often confused. The most significant difference is the mound-building proclivities of Mus spicilegus, but these are only apparent at certain times of year. [3]

Ecology

This species is found in grassland, steppe, cultivated land, orchards, clearings and woodland borders. [1] It is unique among mice in its habit of building mounds in the autumn. These are constructed by a number of mice and can be up to 4 m (13 ft) in diameter, although a more normal size is 1 to 2 m (3 to 7 ft). [6] Some four to fourteen mice cooperate to build the mounds, and these have been shown to be closely related, probably through the mother's line. [6] The mound is built over storage chambers which can hold up to 10 kg (22 lb) of seeds and grains, underneath which is a nesting chamber. Up to twenty mounds per hectare (eight per acre) is typical but there can be many more than this under particularly favourable conditions. [1]

Breeding is seasonal in this mouse, taking place between about March and October. Young females, six to eight months old which have spent the winter in the mound, breed in the spring and may have four or five litters of young during the year; in central Ukraine, the litter size averages 6.7 young. During the summer, most animals live in simple burrows, but some continue to inhabit the mound, and if it survives intact, it may be reused in the autumn for winter quarters. New mounds are constructed between about mid-August and mid-November, when cereal crops are maturing and other plants producing seeds. The construction is done by juveniles, three to four weeks old, and the mound is their winter home, with adults occasionally cohabiting. [5] The mounds usually take two or three weeks to construct, and their size is dependent on the number of animals involved and the abundance of the food supply. The seeds of 84 species of plants have been found stored in the mound. [5]

Status

The steppe mouse is a common species with a wide range, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern" while noting that the intensification of agriculture and destruction of grassy steppe may be a future threat. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House mouse</span> Species of mammal

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurasian harvest mouse</span> Species of rodent

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muridae</span> Family of rodents

The Muridae, or murids, are either the largest or second-largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 870 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia.

<i>Pseudomys</i> Genus of rodents

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wood mouse</span> Species of rodent

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern deer mouse</span> Species of mammal

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobak marmot</span> Species of rodent

The bobak marmot, also known as the steppe marmot, is a species of marmot that inhabits the steppes of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It is a social animal and inhabits steppe grassland, including cultivated field borders. It hibernates for more than half the year. Litter sizes average about five offspring and it takes three years for the young marmots to reach sexual maturity. Male offspring leave the home colony after their second winter, and about 60% of mature females give birth in any one year.

<i>Mus</i> (genus) Genus of rodents

The genus Mus or typical mice refers to a specific genus of muroid rodents, all typically called mice, though the term can be used for other rodents. They are the only members of the tribe Murini. However, the term mouse can also be applied to species outside of this genus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hispid pocket mouse</span> Species of rodent

The hispid pocket mouse is a large pocket mouse native to the Great Plains region of North America. It is a member of the genus Chaetodipus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey dwarf hamster</span> Species of rodent

The grey dwarf hamster, grey hamster or migratory hamster is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. Its range extends from Eastern Europe through the Middle East, Russia and Central Asia to Mongolia and western China. The grey dwarf hamster has grey fur and a head-body length ranging from 85 to 120 mm. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".

The Macedonian mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae and order Rodentia. This rodent lives in the area from eastern Georgia and western Bulgaria to Israel. It is considered part of a Palearctic group along with three other species: the house mouse, steppe mouse, and Algerian mouse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Algerian mouse</span> Species of rodent

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandy inland mouse</span> Species of rodent

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Basin pocket mouse</span> Species of rodent

The Great Basin pocket mouse is a species of rodent in the family Heteromyidae. It is found in British Columbia in Canada and the western United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific jumping mouse</span> Species of rodent

The Pacific jumping mouse is a species of rodent in the family Zapodidae. Found in Canada and the United States, its natural habitats are temperate grassland and swamps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Kilda field mouse</span> Subspecies of rodent

The St Kilda field mouse is a subspecies of the wood mouse that is endemic to the Scottish archipelago of St Kilda, the island 40 miles (64 km) west of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, and 100 miles (160 km) from mainland Scotland. Unique to the islands, the mouse is believed to have arrived on the boats of Viking settlers more than a millennium ago. It is not to be confused with the St Kilda house mouse, a subspecies of the house mouse which is now extinct.

Ohno's law was proposed by a Japanese-American biologist Susumu Ohno, saying that the gene content of the mammalian species has been conserved over species not only in the DNA content but also in the genes themselves. That is, nearly all mammalian species have conserved the X chromosome from their primordial X chromosome of a common ancestor.

<i>Mus</i> (subgenus) Subgenus of rodents

Mus is a subgenus of the rodent genus Mus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Igor Zagorodniuk</span>

Igor Zagorodniuk is a Ukrainian zoologist, mammalogist, ecologist, and founder of Theriological school. He is a laureate of the State Prize of Ukraine in the field of science and technology (2015), and the author of more than 500 scientific publications.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Coroiu, I.; Kryštufek, B.; Vohralík, V. (2016). "Mus spicilegus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T13984A544549. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T13984A544549.en . Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. Musser, G.G.; Carleton, M.D. (2005). "Superfamily Muroidea". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 1408–1409. ISBN   978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC   62265494.
  3. 1 2 Masseti, Marco (2012). Atlas of terrestrial mammals of the Ionian and Aegean islands. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 97–98. ISBN   978-3-11-025458-7.
  4. 1 2 The Mouse in Biomedical Research: History, Wild Mice, and Genetics. Academic Press. 2006. p. 16. ISBN   978-0-08-046906-5.
  5. 1 2 3 Sokolov, V.E.; Kotenkova, E.V.; Michailenko, A.G. (2008). "Mus spicilegus". Mammalian Species (592): 1–6. doi: 10.2307/3504484 . JSTOR   3504484.
  6. 1 2 Garza, J.C.; Dallas, J.; Duryadi, D.; Gerasimov, S.; Croset, H.; Boursot, P. (1997). "Social structure of the mound-building mouse Mus spicilegus revealed by genetic analysis with microsatellites". Molecular Ecology. 6 (11): 1009–1016. doi:10.1046/j.1365-294X.1997.00278.x. PMID   9394460. S2CID   13466936.