The rock-loving mouse (Mus saxicola), also known as the brown spiny mouse, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in India, Nepal, and Pakistan.[1]
| Rock-loving mouse | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Genus: | Mus |
| Species: | M. saxicola
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| Binomial name | |
| Mus saxicola Elliot, 1839
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| Synonyms[1] | |
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The following description is by Sir Walter Elliot:
The brown spiny mouse lives entirely in the red gravelly soil in a burrow of moderate depth, generally on the side of a bank. When the animal is inside the entrance is closed with small pebbles, a quantity of which is collected outside, by which its retreat may always be known. The burrow leads to a chamber in which is collected a bed of small pebbles on which it sits, the thick close hair of the belly protecting it from the cold and asperity of such a seat. Its food appears to be vegetable. In its habits it is monogamous and nocturnal.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c Molur, S.; Nameer, P.O. (2008). "Mus saxicola". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008: e.T13979A4377160. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T13979A4377160.en.
- ^ Elliot, Walter (1884). Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon. London: Thacker & Co.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Musser, G. G.; Carleton, M. D. (2005). "Species Mus saxicola". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 1406. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
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