Chadwick Beach Cotton Mouse
| Chadwick Beach Cotton Mouse | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Peromyscus gossypinus restrictus | ||||||||||||
| Howell , 1939 |
The Chadwick Beach cotton mouse ( Peromyscus gossypinus restrictus ) is an extinct subspecies of the cotton mouse ( Peromyscus gossypinus ) from the genus of white-footed mice . It occurred in a very small area on the Manasota Key peninsula in Florida.
features
The Chadwick Beach cotton mouse was smaller and lighter than the nominate shape . The total length is 172 mm, the tail length 72.5 mm, the hind foot length 22.3 mm, the ear length 22.3 mm and the largest skull length 27.6 mm. The width of the zygomatic bone is 13.9 mm, the width between the eye sockets 4.4 mm, the nasal length 10.9 mm and the length of the teeth in the upper jaw 3.9 mm. The upper side has a pink-cinnamon color, which turns into a reddish brown, especially in the middle of the back. The underside is white with a light pink leather-colored wash on the chest. The top of the tail is brown, the underside is leather-colored. The back stripe is narrower than in the nominate form.
Occurrence
The type locality mentioned in the first description Chadwick Beach near Englewood in Sarasota County is now called Englewood Beach and is located in the southern part of Englewood in Charlotte County .
Habitat and way of life
The Chadwick Beach cotton mouse preferred maritime forests with a closed layer of trees and palmetto palms , Virginia oaks, and pencil cedar as character trees . It was also found on coastal dunes, which are dominated by the grass Uniola paniculata ("Sea oats"). Like all cotton mice, the Chadwick Beach cotton mouse was nocturnal. No more is known about their way of life.
status
The Chadwick Beach cotton mouse is known of only 15 specimens collected by Luther C. Goldman in March 1938. It is now considered to be extinct because, despite intensive searches in Sarasota County and Charlotte Counties in 1984, 1985, 1988 and 1989, no specimen was found. The reasons for the disappearance of this mouse could have been the deforestation of the forests in the extreme south of Sarasota County and the stalking by feral cats.
literature
- Peter C. Pritchard (Ed.): Rare and Endangered Biota of Florida. Volume 1: Stephen R. Humphrey (Ed.): Mammals. University Press of Florida, Gainesville FL 1992, ISBN 0-8130-1127-2 .
- Arthur H. Howell: Descriptions of Five New Mammals from Florida. In: Journal of Mammalogy . Vol. 20, No. 3, August 1939, pp. 363-365.
Web links
- Chadwick Beach Cotton Mouse Survey (PDF file)