Mus spicilegus
| Steppe mouse | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Genus: | Mus |
| Species: | M. spicilegus |
| Binomial name | |
|
Mus spicilegus Petényi, 1882 |
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The steppe mouse or mound-building mouse (Mus spicilegus) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in grassland and other open areas in Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.
Mus spicilegus ranges from Austria to Southern Ukraine and Greece. Two subspecies are recognised, M. s. spicilegus, the nominate subspecies occupying most of the range, and M. s. adriaticus, an isolated sub-population on the Adriatic coast. It is one of three species of mice in the Mus subgenus with a western Palearctic distribution, the others being the Macedonian mouse (Mus macedonicus) (Balkans to Israel and Iran), and the Algerian mouse (Mus spretus) (Southern France, Iberian Peninsula, Balearic Islands, Morocco to Tunisia). Based on the molecular clock hypothesis, M. spicilegus and M. macedonicus seem to have diverged quite recently, between 0.29 and 0.17 mya, whereas the lineages giving rise to these and M. spretus diverged around 1 mya.
The head-and-body length is between 70 and 80 mm (2.76 and 3.15 in) and the tail is between 55 and 65 mm (2.17 and 2.56 in) long. The colour is mostly a uniform grey with no hint of redness, but some populations are bicoloured and have paler underparts. The tail is more slender than that of other related species. This mouse is very similar in appearance to the common house mouse (Mus musculus), and the two are often confused. The most significant difference is the mound-building proclivities of Mus spicilegus, but these are only apparent at certain times of year.
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