>>5997852Western harvest mouse
Westernharverazorback.jpg
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Cricetidae
Subfamily: Neotominae
Genus: Reithrodontomys
Species: R. megalotis
Binomial name
Reithrodontomys megalotis
(Baird, 1857)
Reithrodontomys megalotis map.svg
The western harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys megalotis) is a small neotomine mouse native to most of the western United States.[2] Many authorities consider the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse to be a subspecies, but the two are now usually treated separately.[1]
Contents
1 Distribution
2 Description and comparison with similar species
3 Behavior
4 Diet
5 Breeding
6 Threats
7 References
Distribution
Its range extends from southwest British Columbia and southeast Alberta continuously to west Texas, northeast Arkansas, northwest Indiana, southwest Wisconsin, and the interior of Mexico to Oaxaca.
Description and comparison with similar species
They have brownish fur with buff sides, a white belly, and an indistinct white stripe on the fur along the spine. Adults grow up to eleven to seventeen centimeters in length with a tail length of five to ten centimeters. Their height (from the ground to the highest point of their back) is between 1.5 and 2.0 centimeters. A mature mouse weighs anywhere from nine to twenty-two grams. There is no sexual dimorphism in this species.[3]
Similar species are the plains harvest mouse, which has a more distinct but narrower stripe on its spine, and the fulvous harvest mouse, which has a longer tail. Also similar is the salt marsh harvest mouse, which has an underbelly fur that is more pinkish cinnamon to tawny. Finally, the house mouse has incisors without grooves, unlike those of the western harvest mouse. The dental formula of Reithrodontomys megalotis is
1.0.0.3
1.0.0.3
= 16.[4]
