Western mouse | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Rodentia |
Family: | Muridae |
Genus: | Pseudomys |
Species: | P. occidentalis |
Binomial name | |
Pseudomys occidentalis | |
The western mouse or walyadji (Pseudomys occidentalis) 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.
A murine species that was first described by George H. H. Tate in 1951, [2] using specimens obtained in 1930. [3] The holotype is a skin and skull of a young adult collected at Tambellup by J. Baldwin, with Tate referring to a second specimen with a damaged skull as slightly larger. [4]
Assigned to a diverse and poorly resolved genus, Pseudomys , the describing author allied the species to a subgeneric classification as Gyomys . [2]
The term walyadji is used to refer to the species, but this word does not appear in a literature review of Noongar language names for mammals of the region. [5]
This mouse is roughly 10 centimeters long, not counting its tail, which may be up to 14 centimeters in length. It weighs an average of 34 grams. It has a soft, fine, dark gray and yellowish buff pelage that is interspersed with black guard hairs. The feet are white. [6] [3]
The species is distinguished by the aquiline profile of nose, and its long tail. The range of measurements for the head and body combined is 88 to 110 millimetres, exceeded by the tail's length of 120 to 140 mm. The hind feet of Pseudomys occidentalis are 24 to 28 mm, relatively long for the genus, with interdigital pads that are larger than the terminal pads. The proportion of the pads and lack of granulation over the surface of the hind foot distinguishes the species from the ash-grey species Pseudomys albocinereus . They have two pairs of inguinal teats. The weight range of the species is 30 to 55 grams. [7]
The subterranean nests have a single entrance, a shaft that connects to a network 200 to 300 millimetres below the ground. The main tunnel has a nest site at the opposite end of a loop, two to three metres from the entrance, with a network of other loops extending as annexes to the central tunnel. The site may be occupied by up to ten individuals. [1]
The distribution range once extended across Southwest Australia and into the arid interior, this became restricted to a few areas near the Ravensthorpe Range, at Fitzgerald River National Park, and several isolated populations in the southern wheatbelt. [7]
This mouse lives in loamy soils in areas that have not been burnt recently, and not known at any location that has been subjected to fire in the preceding 30 to 50 years. [1] The terrain has climax vegetation, especially the desert quandong Santalum acuminatum and sedge-like plants. [6] The substrate of the ecological communities in which they are known to remain is sandy or sandy-clay soil that is often intermixed with gravel. Plant genera associated with their remnant sites are Eucalyptus , Acacia , Isopogon , Allocasuarina and Melaleuca , and the vegetation of their habitat is highly variable, including open woodlands, low and tall shrubland, mallee and heath in open to dense arrangements of plants. [3]
After being identified in 1951, the species was known by five specimens until the region's survey and collection of mammals was begun by the state's museum in 1971. [3]
The conservations status of the species was assessed as near threatened in 2016, with a declining population in an area of occupancy less than 200 km2. The fragmented populations inhabit remnants of its preferred habitat, estimated from earlier surveys to be greater than 10 and a decline less than 30% in three generations. Loss of habitat and a anthropogenic climate change is expected to impact upon the species population trajectory. [1]
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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.
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.
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 heath mouse is a species of mouse in the subfamily Murinae, the Old World rats and mice, found in Australia.
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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 long-tailed hopping mouse is an extinct species of rodent in the family Muridae. It was found only in Australia. It is known from a handful of specimens, the last of which was collected in 1901 or possibly 1902. It is presumed to have become extinct within a few decades from then – possibly several decades in view of a skull fragment found in an owl pellet in 1977. The cause of extinction is unknown, but may be a variety of factors including predation and habitat alteration. Little is known of its biology other than that it dug burrows in stiff clay soils. It was less a pest to humans than other hopping mice, although it would eat raisins. The mouse was mainly gray in colour with small pink ears and big eyes with a long hairy pink tail about two inches longer than its own body. It was first described by John Gould on the basis of specimens sent to him from Australia.
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.
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Bolam's mouse is a species of nocturnal, burrowing rodent in the family Muridae that inhabits the semi arid and southern arid regions of Australia. It has a number of physiological and behavioural adaptations developed to cope with an extremely varied climate. Including the ability survive by extracting water from seeds alone, the production of highly concentrated urine, low water content faeces and nocturnal activity.
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 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 blue-gray mouse is an Australian rodent species that is only known by a few specimens found in Eastern Australia, and since presumed to have become extinct.
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 New Holland mouse also known as a Pookila is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It was first described by George Waterhouse in 1843. It vanished from view for over a century before its rediscovery in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park north of Sydney in 1967. It is found only in south east Australia, within the states of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and Tasmania.
Pseudomys pilligaensis, commonly known as the Pilliga mouse or poolkoo, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. Its distribution comprises the Pilliga forest region of New South Wales, Australia, specimens have also been trapped in the Warrumbungle National Park and Weetalibah Nature Reserve. Its conservation status is currently listed as "Data Deficient" due to unresolved questions on its taxonomic status.
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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.