Leggadina forresti
| Forrest's mouse | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Genus: | Leggadina |
| Species: | L. forresti |
| Binomial name | |
|
Leggadina forresti (Thomas, 1906) |
|
The Forrest's mouse (Leggadina forresti), or desert short-tailed mouse, is a small species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is a widespread but sparsely distributed species found across arid and semi-arid inland Australia, commonly found in tussock grassland, chenopod shrubland, and mulga or savannah woodlands.
The Forrest's mouse is a small mouse weighing between 15-25g, but recorded to 30g. Short, thick tail that is distinctly less than (60-70%) of the combined head and body length. Body is thickset with a broad, blunt muzzle, and relatively small ears and eyes. Upperparts are a thick, lustrous and short fur of pale yellow brown or greyish fawn, with a pencilling of darker hairs, and small white patches behind the ears. There is a strong demarcation to white under the lower jaw, chin and feet, with the sparsely haired tail grey above and pale grey below, and the ears rounded and pinkish-grey.
Oldfield Thomas first identified Leggadina forresti in 1906 from a specimen collected at Alexandria Station in the Northern Territory. The Leggadina genus contains two species, both found in Australia including Leggadina forresti and the tropical short-tailed mouse, or Lakeland Downs mouse Leggadina lakedownensis, which is found in moist tussock grassland and tropical savannah of coastal northern Australia.
Several synonyms exist for this species:
Widespread but sparsely distributed across much of arid and semi-arid inland Australia, from eastern Western Australia to Rolleston in central Queensland, the Barkly Tableland in the Northern Territory to Cockburn, South Australia. In New South Wales, has been recorded in Sturt National Park, Tibooburra, and as sub-fossil remains at Mutawintji National Park.
The species was previously listed as Lower Risk/near threatened in 1996 on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, but was reassessed in 2008 as a species of least concern. The Forrest's mouse is not listed under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, but is listed as Vulnerable in NSW on Schedule 2 of the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995.
...
Wikipedia