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Highland Coarse-haired Pocket Mouse

Chaetodipus collis
NE · Not evaluated Rodentia Heteromyidae
Size
7-8 cm + tail 9-11 cm
Weight
18 to 28 g
Activity
Nocturnal
Sociability
Solitary

Description

It is a mice mouse recognized as its own species only recently, after detailed genetic and morphological studies revealed that a high-earth population previously classified as a simple regional form of another more widespread species of mice mouse actually deserved the range of independent species. It lives in arid barley and barley forest of high-altitude areas of north-central Mexico, in contrast to the distribution more linked to low-earth and warm lands of its closest relative. Like the rest of mice mouse, it carries seed in hair-coated external bags, and its recent recognition as its own species means that much of its basic biology still relies on the generally known data for the species group from which it proceeds, more than in specific studies on this particular population.

How to identify it

Small rodent, gray brown coat, body covered with rigid hair on the back, and long tail with terminal mech. It differs from its closest relative, which was recently separated as its own species, mainly by cranial details and by occupying larger altitude heights; its field identification against that species requires capture and comparison with reference series.

Signs and tracks

Small footprint with lengthy rear legs, 1.5-2 cm, with coupled jump marks typical of biped rodents. Small and lengthy feces, 4-6 mm, left dispersed near the strawberry. Excavate simple strawberries in loose soil of strawberries or open strawberries.

Habitat and range

Matorral arid and middle-and-high-coat rainforest. Distributed by a region of north-central Mexico.

Diet

Granivorous, it feeds mainly on seeds, complemented with succulent vegetation and occasional insect.

Behaviour

Solitary and strictly nocturnal, it remains in its nursery during the hours of daytime heat.

Conservation

Its recent recognition as its own species means that it still does not have a specific conservation assessment; its populations are generally presumed to be stable by analogy with the rest of the related species of its group, although this has not been confirmed by specific studies.

Threats

Habitat loss due to agricultural and livestock expansion in its distribution area, although the actual impact on this particular species has not yet been assessed in detail.

Other accounts in Heteromyidae

See all species accounts for rodents · Full species index

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