Western deer mouse
In Linn County, Kansas
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Cricetidae
Subfamily: Neotominae
Genus: Peromyscus
Species:
P. sonoriensis
Binomial name
Peromyscus sonoriensis
(J. A. Wagner, 1845)

The western deermouse or western deer mouse (Peromyscus sonoriensis) is a rodent native to North America. It is widespread throughout the western half of the continent, mainly in areas west of the Mississippi River.[1]

Taxonomy

It was formerly confused with the eastern deermouse (P. maniculatus), with both species being grouped under P. maniculatus as the North American deermouse.[2] However, due to the significant morphological variation in the species, there was always long-standing confusion over the actual taxonomy of P. maniculatus. A 2019 study found significant genetic divergence within the species and split it into two, with maniculatus representing the "eastern" group and sonoriensis representing the "western" group.[1]

Description

P. sonoriensis is covered in soft fur that ranges from gray to brown, but all of a distinctive white underside and white feet. As with their close relative, P. maniculatus, they have many subspecies, including a distinctive "forest" and "grassland" morph. The "forest" morph has a long tail, large ears, and long hind feet, and inhabits western boreal forest as well as coastal forests of the western United States. The "grassland" morph has short tails, small ears, and small feet, and inhabits the prairies and grasslands of the continental interior and extends into the deserts of the American Southwest.[1]

Distribution and habitat

Peromyscus sonoriensis is an abundant species in areas of North America west of the Mississippi River. They are populous in the western mountains and live in wooded areas and areas that were previously wooded.[3] Deer mice inhabit a wide variety of plant communities including grasslands, brushy areas, woodlands, and forests.[4] In a survey of small mammals on 29 sites in subalpine forests in Colorado and Wyoming, the deer mouse had the highest frequency of occurrence; however, it was not always the most abundant small mammal.[5] Deer mice were trapped in four of six forest communities in eastern Washington and northern Idaho, and they were the only rodent in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) savanna.[6][7]

Although found throughout most of western North America, it is absent from parts of the Southwestern United States and most of Mexico, where it is instead replaced with the similar southern deer mouse (P. labecula) and black-eared mouse (P. melanotis), Baja California and most of California south of San Francisco Bay, where it is replaced by Gambel's deer mouse (P. gambelii), the coastal region of the Pacific Northwest from Washington northwards, where it is replaced by the northwestern deer mouse (P. keeni), and Yukon in Canada, where it is replaced by the Yukon deer mouse (P. arcticus).[1]

Reproduction and life span

The species is polygynous, meaning that one male mates with multiple females.[8]

Breeding season

In Plumas County, California, deer mice bred through December in good mast (both soft and hard masts) years but ceased breeding in June of a poor mast year.[9] Deer mice breed throughout the year in the Willamette Valley, but in other areas on the Oregon coast there is usually a lull during the wettest and coldest weather.[10] In southeastern Arizona at least one-third of captured deer mice were in breeding condition in winter.[11]

Longetivity and mortality

O'Farrell reported that a population of deer mice in big sagebrush/grasslands had completely turned over (e.g., there were no surviving adults of the initial population) over the course of one summer.[12]

Predators

Deer mice are important prey for snakes (Viperidae), owls (Strigidae), minks (Neovison vison), martens (Martes americana) and other mustelids, as well as skunks (Mephitis and Spilogale spp.), bobcats (Lynx rufus), domestic cats (Felis catus), coyotes (Canis latrans), foxes (Vulpes and Urocyon spp.), and ringtail cats (Bassariscus astutus). They are also parasitized by Cuterebra fontinella.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Greenbaum, I. F.; et al. (October 2019). "Taxonomy and phylogenetics of the Peromyscus maniculatus species group". Special Publications, Texas Tech University. 71: 559–575.
  2. ↑ "Explore the Database". www.mammaldiversity.org. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  3. ↑ Jameson, E W (1952). "Food of Deer Mice, Peromyscus maniculatus and P. boylei, in the Northern Sierra Nevada, California". Journal of Mammalogy. 33 (1): 50–60. doi:10.2307/1375640. JSTOR 1375640.
  4. ↑ Whitaker, John O., Jr. (1980). National Audubon Society field guide to North American mammals. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
  5. ↑ Raphael, Martin G. (1987). Nongame wildlife research in subalpine forests of the central Rocky Mountains. In: Management of subalpine forests: building on 50 years of research: Proceedings of a technical conference; 1987 July 6–9; Silver Creek, CO. Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-149. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station: 113–122
  6. ↑ Hoffman, G. R. (1960). "The Small Mammal Components of Six Climax Plant Associations in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho". Ecology. 41 (3): 571–572. doi:10.2307/1933338. JSTOR 1933338.
  7. ↑ Sullivan, Janet (1995). "Peromyscus maniculatus". Index of Species Information. Fire Effects Information System, US Forest Service. Retrieved 20 June 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  8. ↑ Advances in the study of Peromyscus (Rodentia). Kirkland, Gordon L., Layne, James Nathaniel. Lubbock, Tex., USA: Texas Tech University Press. 1989. ISBN 0-89672-170-1. OCLC 19222284.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. ↑ Baker, Rollin H. (1968). "Habitats and distribution". In: King, John Arthur, ed. Biology of Peromyscus (Rodentia). Special Publication No. 2. Stillwater, OK: The American Society of Mammalogists 98–126.
  10. ↑ Maser, Chris; Mate, Bruce R.; Franklin, Jerry F.; Dyrness, C. T. (1981). Natural history of Oregon Coast mammals. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-133. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station.
  11. ↑ Brown, J. H.; Zeng, Z. (1989). "Comparative Population Ecology of Eleven Species of Rodents in the Chihuahuan Desert". Ecology. 70 (5): 1507–1525. doi:10.2307/1938209. JSTOR 1938209.
  12. ↑ O'Farrell, Michael J (1978). "Home range dynamics of rodents in a sagebrush community". Journal of Mammalogy. 59 (4): 657–668. doi:10.2307/1380131. JSTOR 1380131.
  13. ↑ Cogley TP (1991). "Warble development by the rodent bot Cuterebra fontinella (Diptera: Cuterebridae) in the deer mouse". Veterinary Parasitology. 38 (4): 275–288. doi:10.1016/0304-4017(91)90140-Q. PMID 1882496.
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