Pebble-mound mouse | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Rodentia |
Family: | Muridae |
Genus: | Pseudomys |
Species group: | Pebble-mound mice |
Species | |
Pebble-mound mice are a group of rodents from Australia in the genus Pseudomys. They are small, brownish mice with medium to long, often pinkish brown tails. Unlike some other species of Pseudomys, they construct mounds of pebbles around their burrows, which play an important role in their social life.
There are four complementarily distributed species of pebble-mound mice in northern Australia. Their distribution appears to be limited by climatic conditions and the availability of pebbles and is thought to be the result of early Pleistocene dispersal across areas that are now inhospitable to pebble-mound mice. None of the four species is endangered.