Perdido Key beach mouse
Perdido Key beach mouse | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Rodentia |
Family: | Cricetidae |
Subfamily: | Neotominae |
Genus: | Peromyscus |
Species: | |
Subspecies: | P. p. trissyllepsis
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Trinomial name | |
Peromyscus polionotus trissyllepsis Bowen, 1968
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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
References
- ^ NatureServe (7 April 2023). "Peromyscus polionotus trissyllepsis". NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ a b "Perdido Key beach mouse (Peromyscus polionotus trissyllepsis)". Environmental Conservation Online System. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ a b 50 FR 23872
- ^ "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.