Pseudomys

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Pseudomys
Fossil range: Pliocene - Recent
Pseudomys higginsi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Subfamily: Murinae
Genus: Pseudomys
Gray, 1832
Species

Pseudomys albocinereus
Pseudomys apodemoides
Pseudomys australis
Pseudomys bolami
Pseudomys calabyi
Pseudomys chapmani
Pseudomys delicatulus
Pseudomys desertor
Pseudomys fieldi
Pseudomys fumeus
Pseudomys glaucus
Pseudomys gouldii
Pseudomys gracilicaudatus
Pseudomys hermannsburgensis
Pseudomys higginsi
Pseudomys johnsoni
Pseudomys laborifex
Pseudomys nanus
Pseudomys novaehollandiae
Pseudomys occidentalis
Pseudomys oralis
Pseudomys patrius
Pseudomys pilligaensis
Pseudomys shortridgei

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.

Contents

[edit] Natural History

This genus contains a number of species with different habits making generalisation difficult. The overall body size varies widely, ranging from 60-160mm. The tail is 60-180mm and the weight is recorded from 12-90g. 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. Several species of Pseudomys are threatened due to competition with introduced species and habitat destruction. Several others are probably extinct.

[edit] Etymology

The name Pseudomys means "false mouse" presumably in reference to both its similarity and uniqueness from "true mice" in the genus Mus.

[edit] Species

[edit] References

  • Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894-1531 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
  • Nowak, R. M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World, Vol. 2. Johns Hopkins University Press, London.