Mayor's mouse

Mayor's mouse
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Genus: Mus
Species:
M. mayori
Binomial name
Mus mayori
(Thomas, 1915)
Subspecies

Mus mayori mayori
Mus mayori pococki

Mus mayori is a species of rodent in the genus Mus, the mice. Its common names include Mayor's mouse, highland rat,[1] and spiny mouse.[2] It is endemic to Sri Lanka.[1]

This mouse lives in tropical and subtropical forest types and wet grassland habitat. It is fossorial, seeking shelter by digging burrows. It is nocturnal.[1]

This species is widespread in parts of Sri Lanka but it faces a number of threats, including deforestation and domestic cats.[1]

There are two subspecies, M. m. mayori and M. m. pococki. A recent study catalogued the parasites associated with subspecies pococki: a mite of genus Echinolaelaps, a tick of genus Ixodes, and the sucking louse Polyplax spinulosa.[3] A new species of pseudoscorpion was found on the mouse, described, and named Megachernes kanneliyensis.[4] The mouse also carries the native Sri Lankan flea Stivalius phoberus.[5]

  1. ^ a b c d e de A. Goonatilake, W., et al. Mus mayori. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008. Downloaded on 07 January 2016.
  2. ^ Wijesinghe, M. R. Predicting effects of rainforest fragmentation from live trapping studies of small mammals in Sri Lanka.[permanent dead link] Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(6): 2629-2636.
  3. ^ Ratnaweera, P. B., et al. (2010). Parasitic associations of a threatened Sri Lankan rainforest rodent, Mus mayor pococki (Rodentia: Muridae).[permanent dead link] Journal of Threatened Taxa, 2(6), 901-907.
  4. ^ Harvey, M. S., et al. (2012). A new species of the pseudoscorpion genus Megachernes (Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae) associated with a threatened Sri Lankan rainforest rodent, with a review of host associations of Megachernes. Journal of Natural History, 46(41-42), 2519-2535.
  5. ^ Yathramullage, S., Meegaskumbura, M., and Meegaskumbura, S. (2014). Record of five new endemic small mammal hosts for four ectoparasite species from Sri Lanka. Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology 17 473-476.