Mus nitidulus

Mus nitidulus
Mus nitidulus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Genus: Mus
Subgenus: Mus
Species: M. nitidulus
Binomial name
Mus nitidulus
Blyth, 1859

Mus nitidulus is a medium sized rodent of the genus Mus that appears in central Myanmar.

Origins

The name of the species dates back to 1859, but this is an uncertain figure because of the uncertainty that Mus nitidulus was indeed a separate species from Mus cervicolor. In 2007, mainly because of ongoing genetic research into new specimens, Mus nitidulus was recognized as a separate species. They are actually more closely related to Mus booduga than Mus cervicolor. Based on this genetic data, the origin of M. nitidulus is estimated to have occurred 1.3 million years ago. The spread of the species includes the area around the lower reaches of the Irrawaddy.

Description

Mus nitidulus is a medium-sized mouse with a soft, fine, flexible, transparent whiskers. They look similar to Mus cervicolor and Mus fragilicauda. The underside of the body is light gray, and the sides of the cheeks and nose are white. The animal has large, hairy ears. The feet are white, but sometimes with black hair. It has a fairly hairy coat which is hard to give a clear color (darker at the top, lighter at the bottom). From each tail scale, of which there are 20 to 26 per centimeter, come about three hairs, which are two or three scales long. The skull ranges from 73 to 93 mm, the tail length 55 to 69 mm, the ear length 12 to 13 mm and the weight from 16.2 to 18 g. They have 1 + 2 + 2 = 10 mammae.

  • This text incorporates translated material from Dutch Wikipedia, which is licensed under the GFDL.