Hausa harvest mouse
| Hausa harvest mouse | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Mus haussa | ||||||||||||
| ( Thomas & Hinton , 1920) |
The Hausa harvest mouse ( Mus haussa ) is a species of old world mice belonging to the African harvest mice from the semi-arid grass savannahs of West Africa . The very small, pale mouse with a short tail is sand-colored on the top and white on the underside. It is nocturnal , lives on the ground, feeds on plant seeds and insects and is not endangered. Named after the Hausa , it was described in 1920 by Oldfield Thomas and Martin AC Hinton as Leggada haussa .
The Hausa harvest mouse is similar to the tender harvest mouse and the closely related Matthey harvest mouse . It can only be distinguished from this genetically, but also morphologically from the small harvest mouse , the Temminck harvest mouse and the Peters harvest mouse .
anatomy
Body measurements
The Hausa harvest mouse is a very small mouse with a short tail . Their head-trunk length is 37 to 58 millimeters and an average of 50.8 millimeters, the tail length is 31 to 44 millimeters and an average of 38.5 millimeters, the hind foot length is 10.5 to 13 millimeters and an average of 11.8 millimeters, the length of the ears is 7 to 10 millimeters and an average of 8.8 millimeters and the body weight is 3 to 5.3 grams and an average of 4.1 grams. The tail is shorter than the head-trunk length and measures an average of 75 percent of this length.
The Hausa harvest mouse is significantly smaller than the house mouse. It can also be differentiated from the Peters harvest mouse and the Temminck harvest mouse on the basis of their smaller body size. The small harvest mouse, the tender harvest mouse and the Matthey harvest mouse, on the other hand, are similar in size. As the smallest African harvest mouse, the Hausa harvest mouse is on average a little smaller than the Matthey harvest mouse.
| Dimensions in millimeters | Monadjem and collaborators (2015) | Petter (2013) | Granjon and Duplantier (2009) | Rosevear (1969) | Thomas and Hinton (1920) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| male | female | ||||||||||||||
| Area | medium | number | Area | medium | number | Area | medium | number | Area | medium | number | Area | medium | ||
| Head to torso length | 41-58 | 49.9 | 8th | 44-52 | 49.7 | 7th | 47-58 | 52.6 | 14th | 37-58 | 49.5 | 11 | 48-55 | 51 | 55 |
| Tail length | 31-44 | 37.6 | 8th | 35-42 | 38 | 7th | 35.5-44 | 40.3 | 13 | 31-43 | 37.5 | 10 | 35-41 | 38 | 37 |
| Hind foot length | 11-13 | 12.0 | 8th | 12-13 | 12 | 7th | 11-12.5 | 11.9 | 14th | 10.5-12 | 11.5 | 11 | 10.5-12.5 | 11 | 11.5 |
| Ear length | 8-10 | 8.9 | 8th | 8-10 | 8.8 | 7th | 8-10 | 8.8 | 14th | 7-9 | 8.5 | 11 | 8.5-10 | 9 | 9.5 |
| Body weight in grams | - | 3 | 1 | 3.2-5.3 | 4.4 | 9 | 3-5 | 3.9 | 8th | - | - | ||||
Fur and color
The fur of the Hausa harvest mouse is quite short. In the middle of the back, the hair is only about three to five millimeters long. On the upper side, the fur is pale-sand-colored or brown to beige. At the base, the hair is slate gray, otherwise yellow-brown. They are a little darker in the middle of the back. The fur is lighter to pure white underneath. According to Petter (2013), the fur on the upper side is clearly delimited from that on the underside, according to Granjon and Duplantier (2009), however, there is no clear delimitation. The auricles are sand gray with small whitish or sand colored hairs. According to Petter (2013), the white spot on the outer attachment of each auricle is missing, according to Rosevear (1969) it is present. The cheeks, lips and throat are white, as are the front and rear paws. The tail is scaled, pale or white and more or less bare.
The fur of the Hausa harvest mouse is similar in color and pattern to that of the tender harvest mouse. Compared to that of the Matthey harvest mouse, that of the little harvest mouse and that of the Temminck harvest mouse, however, it is paler. The base of the hair is also noticeably paler than that of the Temminck harvest mouse. In drier tree savannah areas such as around Zungeru in Nigeria, however, specimens of the Temminck harvest mouse can have a similar coat color. The hair of the Hausa harvest mouse is only about half as long as that of the Peters harvest mouse.
Teats
The ten teats of the females are distributed over three pairs in the breast - and two pairs in the groin region .
Skull and teeth
The skull of the Hausa harvest mouse has elongated cleft palates and U- to V-shaped choans . The largest skull length is 15 to 17.2 millimeters and an average of 16.6 millimeters, the condyloincisive length is about 16.1 millimeters, the interorbital width is about 3.2 millimeters, the zygomatic width is 8.2 to 9 millimeters and an average of 8.5 Millimeters and the length of the upper row of teeth is 2.9 to 3.3 millimeters and an average of 2.9 millimeters. The Hausa harvest mouse can be distinguished from the Peters harvest mouse and the Temminck harvest mouse by the shorter skull length.
| 1 | · | 0 | · | 0 | · | 3 | = 16 |
| 1 | · | 0 | · | 0 | · | 3 |
The dentition of the Hausa harvest mouse consists of an incisor tooth and three real back teeth ( molars ) in each half of the jaw . The upper incisors form an acute angle with the skull axis ( opisthodontia ). The first upper molar is elongated and makes up 65 to 70 percent of the length of the upper row of teeth. Its anterior lobe is greatly elongated and has three cusps. There are also three cusps on the anterior lobe of the first mandibular molar. The front inner hump is in the middle in front of the two humps of the central transverse row and is as large or almost as large as these. The anterior outer cusp, on the other hand, is absent or is small and lies on the outside of the tooth in the middle between the anterior inner cusp and the central outer cusp. The Hausa harvest mouse differs from the small harvest mouse and the Temminck harvest mouse by the three cusps on the anterior lobe of the first maxillary molar and the more pronounced anterior inner cusp of the first lower molar.
| Dimensions in millimeters | Monadjem and collaborators (2015) | Petter (2013) | Rosevear (1969) | Thomas and Hinton (1920) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area | medium | number | Area | medium | number | Area | medium | ||
| Largest skull length | 15.3-17.2 | 16.5 | 8th | 15-17 | 16.6 | 6th | 15.3-17.0 | 16.5 | 17th |
| Condyloincisive length | - | - | - | 16.1 | |||||
| Interorbital width | - | - | - | 3.2 | |||||
| Zygomatic width | - | 8.2-8.6 | 8.4 | 4th | 8.4-8.8 | 8.6 | 9 | ||
| Grate length | - | - | 3.8-4.3 | 4.1 | - | ||||
| Cleft palate length | - | - | 3.2-3.6 | 3.5 | 4th | ||||
| upper row length | - | 2.9-3.1 | 2.9 | 7th | 3.0-3.3 | 3.2 | 3 | ||
| Width of the first upper molar | - | - | 0.98-1.09 | 1.04 | - | ||||
genetics
The karyotype of the Hausa harvest mouse has 28 to 34 chromosomes with 38 chromosome arms in a double set of chromosomes . This differs from that of the Matthey harvest mouse, the small harvest mouse, the Temminck harvest mouse and the house mouse.
Habitat and way of life
habitat
The habitats of the Hausa harvest mouse are grass savannahs in regions with a semi-arid climate . She also lives in fallow land , shrubland with sand to sand-loam soils and the store rooms . In Bla , Mali , a female was trapped in an abandoned house. The species is an inhabitant of the lowlands and tolerates the hottest and driest climates of all African harvest mice. Thus it occurs in drier areas than the Matthey harvest mouse, the small harvest mouse and the Temminck harvest mouse.
Way of life
The Hausa harvest mouse is nocturnal and lives on the ground. As an omnivore, it feeds on seeds and insects . Their predators include owls . Otherwise not much is known about their way of life. Their population density is very difficult to estimate. The species is rarely caught with classic animal traps , but rather by hand at night. Dome finds from Senegal, Mali, Nigeria and Chad suggest that it is common in certain areas. In northern Nigeria, for example, their share was 13 percent of the rodents captured by owls. In Kemeni near Bla, with 45 out of 126 and 41 out of 128 prey animals, it even made up more than 30 percent of the prey of barn owls in two years , as well as species of multi-teat mice .
Distribution and existence
distribution
The range of the Hausa harvest mouse extends over large parts of the Sahel and Sudan savannas of West Africa south of the Sahara. It has been detected in Senegal and southern Mauritania , Burkina Faso , northern Ivory Coast , Ghana , Togo and Benin , Mali , southern Niger , northern Nigeria and Cameroon and Chad . The distribution area is incoherent ( disjunction ) and its eastern border is not fully known. It overlaps with that of the Temminck harvest mouse ( Sympatry ) and borders on that of the Matthey harvest mouse ( Parapatry ).
Duration
The World Conservation Union IUCN classified the Hausa harvest mouse in 2008 as not endangered (least concern). This was justified with the wide distribution, the compatibility of certain habitat changes, the presumably large populations and the improbability of a rapid population decline. The species is abundant in areas, populations are stable, there are no significant threats, and it has been identified in some protected areas . In 2004 it was also classified as not endangered.
Systematics and nomenclature
Systematics
The Hausa harvest mouse is a species of African harvest mice (subgenus Nannomys ). Granjon and Duplantier (2009) assign them to the mus tenellus group, which is characterized by three cusps on the anterior lobe of the first maxillary molar. The Hausa-harvest mouse is similar morphologically and ecologically the Tender Harvest Mouse ( Mus tenellus ). There is a great similarity in terms of body size, coat color and pattern. Petter (1969) therefore considered combining the two species. In addition, the Hausa harvest mouse is closely related to the Matthey harvest mouse ( Mus mattheyi ). It is morphologically close to this and the relationship has been confirmed by molecular genetic studies. The distinguishing features of the two species given by Petter (1969) and Petter and Matthey (1975) only apply in extreme cases and merge smoothly.
Subspecies of the Hausa harvest mouse are not differentiated and no synonyms are assigned to it.
nomenclature
  | |
Type locality of the Hausa harvest mouse in Nigeria |
The type specimen of the Hausa harvest mouse comes from Farniso near Kano in northern Nigeria. The adult female was collected by Angus Buchanan on December 29, 1919 at an altitude of approximately 530 meters. Named after the Hausa people , it was described as Leggada haussa by Oldfield Thomas and Martin AC Hinton in June 1920 . It is located in the Natural History Museum in London and bears the number 21.2.11.106 . The fur and skull are in good condition. The type series from Farniso and Zinder also includes six males and two other females.
Harry Madsen collected four more specimens of the Hausa harvest mouse during the Ole Olufsen expedition from 1927 to 1928 in Niamey, Niger .
Hausa harvest mouse and human
The Hausa harvest mouse is also found in houses and storage facilities ( synanthropy ).
Their name refers to the Hausa people (scientifically Mus haussa ; German Haus (s) a-Zwergmaus ; English Hausa mouse , Hausa pygmy mouse ; French souris naine Haussa ) or to the distribution in the Sahel zone (French souris naine sahélienne ).
Additional information
Web links
literature
- Peter Grubb, TS Jones, AG Davies, E. Edberg, ED Starin, John Edwards Hill: Mammals of Ghana, Sierra Leone and The Gambia . Trendine Press, Cornwall 1998 (on the population in Ghana).
Used literature
- Laurent Granjon, Is-haquou Daouda: Mus haussa . In: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015.1 . 2008 ( iucnredlist.org ).
- Laurent Granjon, Jean-Marc Duplantier: Les rongeurs de l'Afrique sahélo-soudanienne (= Faune et flore tropicales . Volume 43 ). IRD Éditions / Publications scientifiques du Muséum, Marseille 2009, ISBN 978-2-7099-1675-2 ( horizon.documentation.ird.fr [PDF]).
- Bernhard Grzimek (Ed.): Grzimeks Encyclopedia Mammals. tape 11 (undated [1988], eleven-volume licensed edition).
- Holger Meinig: Notes on the mammal fauna of the southern part of the Republic of Mali, West Africa . In: Bonn zoological contributions . tape 49 , no. 1-4 , 2000, pp. 101-114 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
- Ara Monadjem, Peter J. Taylor, Christiane Denys, Fenton PD Cotterill: Rodents of Sub-Sharan Africa: A Biogeographic and Taxonomic Synthesis . De Gruyter, Berlin / Munich / Boston 2015, ISBN 978-3-11-030166-3 .
- Guy G. Musser, Michael D. Carleton: Superfamily Muroidea . In: Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference . 3. Edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 , pp. 894-1531 .
- Francis Petter: Mus haussa: Hausa Pygmy Mouse . In: David CD Happold (Ed.): Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits . Bloomsbury, London a. a. 2013, ISBN 978-1-4081-2253-2 , pp. 480-481 ( books.google.de -a).
- Francis Petter: Mus mattheyi: Matthey's Pygmy Mouse . In: David CD Happold (Ed.): Mammals of Africa. Volume III: Rodents, Hares and Rabbits . Bloomsbury, London a. a. 2013, ISBN 978-1-4081-2253-2 , pp. 483-484 ( books.google.de - b).
- Donovan Reginald Rosevear: The Rodents of West Africa . British Museum (Natural History), London 1969.
- Oldfield Thomas, Martin AC Hinton: Captain Angus Buchanan's Aïr Expedition. 1: On a Series of Small Mammals from Kano . In: Novitates Zoologicae . tape 27 , no. 1 , 1920, p. 315-320 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
Remarks
- ↑ a b c Thomas and Hinton, 1920, p. 319 ( biodiversitylibrary.org )
- ↑ Grzimek, 1988 (p. 33): Haussa-Zwergmaus ; Petter, 2013a (p. 480): Haussa harvest mouse
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Petter, 2013a (p. 480)
- ↑ see table of body measurements
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Granjon and Duplantier, 2009 (p. 116)
- ↑ a b c d e f g Monadjem and co-workers, 2015 (p. 824)
- ↑ a b c d e Musser and Carleton, 2005 (p. 1394, Mus haussa ( Memento of the original dated June 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link accordingly Instructions and then remove this notice. )
- ↑ a b Monadjem and co-workers, 2015 (p. 825)
- ↑ a b Petter, 2013a (p. 481): The specimens come from Saint-Louis in Senegal, from Farniso and Kano in Nigeria and from N'Djamena in Chad and are in the Natural History Museum in London, in the Muséum national d ' histoire naturelle in Paris and in the Senckenberg Natural History Museum in Frankfurt.
- ↑ Granjon and Duplantier, 2009 (p. 116): Only specimens over two grams of body weight were taken into account.
- ↑ a b Rosevear, 1969 (p. 267): The dimensions refer to the specimens collected by Angus Buchanan , which are considered to be rather young (p. 265).
- ↑ a b c Thomas and Hinton, 1920, p. 320 ( biodiversitylibrary.org )
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Rosevear, 1969 (p. 265)
- ↑ see table of skull dimensions
- ↑ Meinig, 2000, p. 110 ( biodiversitylibrary.org )
- ↑ a b c d Granjon and Daouda, 2008
- ↑ Granjon and Duplantier, 2009 (p. 117)
- ↑ Meinig, 2000 (Tab. 1, p. 103 biodiversitylibrary.org )
- ↑ Monadjem et al., 2015 (Fig. 2590, p. 825)
- ^ A b Francis Petter: Une souris nouvelle d'Afrique occidentale Mus mattheyi sp. nov. In: Mammalia . tape 33 , no. 1 , 1969, p. 118-123 , doi : 10.1515 / mamm.1969.33.1.118 .
- ↑ Petter, 2013b (p. 483)
- ^ Francis Petter, Robert Matthey: Genus Mus . In: Jurgens Meester, Henry W. Setzer (eds.): The Mammals of Africa: An Identification Manual . Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington 1975, pp. 1-4 .
- ↑ a b Thomas and Hinton, 1920, p. 315 ( biodiversitylibrary.org )
- ↑ a b Rosevear, 1969 (p. 264)
