- St Kilda House Mouse
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Saint Kilda House Mouse Conservation status Extinct (EX)Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Rodentia Family: Muridae Subfamily: Murinae Genus: Mus Species: Mus musculus Trinomial name Mus musculus muralis The St Kilda House Mouse (Mus musculus muralis) was a subspecies of the house mouse found only on the islands of the St Kilda archipelago of northwest Scotland.
It is uncertain when they first arrived on the islands, but it is possible that they unwittingly were transported there during the Norse period. Isolated on the islands, the St Kilda House Mouse diverged from relatives, it became larger than the mainland varieties, although it had a number of traits in common with a subspecies found on Mykines in the Faroe Islands, Mus musculus mykinessiensis.[1]
When the last St Kildans were evacuated in 1930, the endemic house mouse became extinct very quickly,[2] as it was associated strictly with human settlement. Some specimens exist in museums. The St Kilda Field Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus hirtensis) is still present.
References
Sources
- Harrisson, T. H. and J. A. Moy-Thomas. 1933. The Mice of St Kilda, with Especial Reference to Their Prospects of Extinction and Present Status. The Journal of Animal Ecology, 2: 109-115.
- Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894-1531 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
External links
Islands Boreray/Boraraigh · Dùn · Hirta · Soay/Soaigh · Stac an Armin/Stac an Àrmainn · Stac Biorach · Stac Lee/Stac Lì · Stac Levenish/Stac LeibhinisEndemic Fauna History Clan MacLeod · Lady GrangeCategories:- St Kilda, Scotland
- Mammal extinctions since 1500
- Extinct mammals
- Extinct mammals of Europe
- Old World rats and mice
- Mammals of Great Britain
- Fauna of Scotland
- Fauna of St Kilda, Scotland
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