Mound-building Mouse

discussion

Discussion: Subgenus Mus. This is the mouse that constructs soil-covered storage mounds of grain, and was formally known as M. hortulanus (Corbet, 1984; Gromov and Erbajeva, 1995); however, the holotype of hortulanus is an example of M. musculus so the earliest name for the species is spicilegus (Gerasimov et al., 1990; J. T. Marshall, Jr., 1998; Zagorodnyuk, 1996 b). Sympatric and frequently syntopic with M. m. musculus (Mitchell-Jones et al., 1999). Results of morphometric and allozymic analyses reported by Bonhomme et al. (1984), Petrov and Ruzic (1985), Gerasimov et al. (1990), She et al. (1990), and Lyalyukhina et al. (1991). Forms a clade with M. musculus, M. macedonicus, and M. spretus as indicated by analyses of DNA sequences from several different genes (Graur, 1994; Larizza et al., 2002; Lundrigan et al., 2002; Martin et al., 2000). Combined analyses of morphological traits, DNA / DNA hybridization, and mitochondrial 12 S rRNA brings M. spicilegus together with M. spretus, M. macedonicus and M. musculus in a clade distinct from an Asian clade consisting of M. caroli, M. cervicolor, and M. cooki (Auffrey et al., 2003; Chevret et al., 2003). Other cytogenetic and biochemica

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

distribution

Distribution: Lowlands of Austria, S Slovakia (Bauer et al., 1998; Stollmann and Macholán, 1999), Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Albania, Greece, N Bulgaria (Peshev, 1996), and steppes of Moldavia and S Ukraine (see references cited below).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

discussion

COMMENTS: Subgenus Mus. This is the mouse that constructs soil-covered storage mounds of grain, and was formally known as M. hortulanus (see Corbet, 1984); however, the holotype of hortulanus is actually a M. musculus, so the earliest name for the species is spicilegus (Gerasimov et al., 1990). Results of morphometric and biochemical analyses were reported by Bonhomme et al. (1984), Petrov and Ruzic (1985), Gerasimov et al. (1990), She et al. (1990), and Lyalyukhina et al. (1991). Other cytogenetic and biochemical contrasts between the species (reported as hortulanus) and M. musculus were recorded by Bulatova and Kotenkova (1990), and Yakimenko et al. (1990).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

distribution

DISTRIBUTION: Hungary, Rumania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and steppes of Crimea and S Ukraine.

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae