Perdido Key beach mouse

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Perdido Key beach mouse

Critically Imperiled (NatureServe)[1]

ESA)[2][3]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Cricetidae
Subfamily: Neotominae
Genus: Peromyscus
Species:
Subspecies:
P. p. trissyllepsis
Trinomial name
Peromyscus polionotus trissyllepsis
Bowen, 1968

The Perdido Key beach mouse (Peromyscus polionotus trissyllepsis) is an endangered subspecies of the oldfield mouse. It is found on Perdido Key. The small white and gray mouse, weighing only 13–16 g (0.46–0.56 oz), blends in well with the white quartz sand of northern Gulf coast beaches.

Diet

Dune plants are the primary source of food for the species.[4] It feeds primarily on the seeds of sea oats and bluestem, but will occasionally eat insects. Unlike other rodents they shun people and will not eat or be near trash.

Reproduction

The Perdido Key beach mouse is a nocturnal animal, spending most daylight hours in their burrows. Unlike many species, beach mice are monogamous, with mated pairs tending to remain together as long as both live. A typical beach mouse pair averages 3–4 offspring per litter and has roughly 3 litters per year.

Shelter

In contrast to its inland relatives, the Perdido Key beach mouse avoids humans, buildings and trash, instead preferring to meander among the dunes near its burrow. Mouse burrows are usually located in the dunes at the base of a shrub, clump of grass or near some vegetated cover. The burrow itself consists of an entrance, a nest cavity, and an escape tube which is closed off but near the surface of the sand. If an intruder, such as a snake or crab, enters a beach mouse burrow, mice make a hasty retreat out the escape tube.

Conservation

The species was listed as an

habitat loss
and degradation.

References

  1. ^ NatureServe (7 April 2023). "Peromyscus polionotus trissyllepsis". NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Perdido Key beach mouse (Peromyscus polionotus trissyllepsis)". Environmental Conservation Online System. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b 50 FR 23872
  4. ^ "PERDIDO KEY BEACH MOUSE, Peromyscus polionotus trissyllepsi , U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service". www.fws.gov. Archived from the original on 12 February 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2022.