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Golden mouse Temporal range: Late Pleistocene to Recent
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Rodentia |
Family: | Cricetidae |
Subfamily: | Neotominae |
Tribe: | Ochrotomyini Musser and Carleton, 2005 |
Genus: | Ochrotomys Osgood, 1909 |
Species: | O. nuttalli
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Binomial name | |
Ochrotomys nuttalli (Harlan, 1832)
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The golden mouse (Ochrotomys nuttalli) is a species of New World mouse. It is usually 5–8 inches (12–25 cm) in body length, and has a soft pelage that ranges from golden-brownish to burnt orange in color. The genus name comes from the Greek words, ochra, meaning "ocher", a yellow or brown earth pigment; oto- (from ous), meaning "ear"; and mys, meaning "mouse".[1][2]