| Gould's mouse | |
|---|---|
| |
| Illustration by John Gould | |
| Conservation status | |
 Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)(for Pseudomys fieldi) | |
| CITES Appendix II (CITES) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Genus: | Pseudomys |
| Species: | P. gouldii |
| Binomial name | |
| Pseudomys gouldii (Waterhouse, 1839) | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Pseudomys fieldii (Waite, 1896) | |
Gould's mouse (Pseudomys gouldii), also known as the Shark Bay mouse and djoongari in the Pintupi and Luritja languages, is a species of rodent in the murid family. Once ranging throughout Australia from Western Australia to New South Wales, its range has since been reduced to five islands off the coast of Western Australia.
Taxonomy
In 2021, a comprehensive genetic analysis of native Australian rodents found the djoongari or Shark Bay mouse (P. fieldi), which survives on several islands off the coast of Western Australia, to be conspecific with the Gould's mouse. This would make the Gould's mouse, formerly thought extinct, extant once again, albeit only surviving on several islands, a fraction of its former range. The study is based on earlier work by Emily Roycroft for a PhD thesis. It has been proposed that the P. gouldii be retained for the merged species as P. gouldii was described first, but the species' common name be changed to djoongari or Shark Bay mouse.
Description
A large species of Pseudomys, an Australian genus of rodents, with long and shaggy fur. The coloration of the upper parts of djoongari is a pale yellowish fawn interspersed with darker brown guard hairs. The size of the head and body combined ranges from 90 to 115 millimetres (3.5 to 4.5 in), the tail is a slightly greater length of 115 to 125 millimetres (4.5 to 4.9 in). Djoongari have an average mass of 45 grams (1.6 oz), and may range from 30 to 50 grams (1.1 to 1.8 oz). The greyish ears are 19 millimetres (0.75 in) from the notch to tip. The underside of the pelage is whitish, becoming a buff colour as it grades into the upper parts, the feet are also whitish. The hind foot is 26 to 27 millimetres (1.0 to 1.1 in) long. The upper surface of the tail is greyish, and distinctly contrasts the lighter coloured lower surface. The tail ends with a tuft of dark fur. Pseudomys gouldii possess two pairs of inguinal teats.
Discovery
As Pseudomys fieldii, the species was described in a description published by Edgar Ravenswood Waite in 1896, the holotype was obtained at Alice Springs; the author allied the new species to the genus Mus. Another description was provided in 1910 by the mammalogist Oldfield Thomas, a new species named as Pseudomys (Thetomys) praeconis. Thomas described a specimen that was obtained at Shark Bay, where the collector Guy C. Shortridge found the dry skull of a female lying on the ground on Bernier Island at the Peron Peninsula; Shortridge reported that he thought the species was locally extinct. Another specimen held at the British Museum, an old female obtained by F. M. Rayner during the voyage of HMS Herald in 1858, was designated as the holotype. The specific epithet was nominated by Waite to fulfil a request of Walter Baldwin Spencer that J. Field be acknowledged for their collection of specimens during the Horn expedition.
Range
It was once found throughout the entire Australian continent, from Western Australia eastwards to New South Wales. but suffered greatly after the arrival of Europeans and feral animals, and eventually its range became reduced to coastal sand dunes on Bernier Island, leaving it severely endangered.
In 2003 the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) released some Shark Bay mice onto Faure Island in the hope of creating another population. Despite the presence of owls the reintroduction was successful and the population quickly grew to a larger size than that of Bernier Island, no longer leaving the species on the brink of extinction.
The species was reintroduced to Dirk Hartog Island in April 2021, with specimens gathered from another reintroduced population on Western Australia's North West Island.
Fossil evidence expanded the known range of Pseudomys praeconis from the Shark Bay area to areas along the western coast of Australia (Archer and Baynes 1973 and Baynes 1982 cited in Baynes 1990, p. 317), and further inland into the arid zones (Baynes 1984 cited in Baynes 1990, p. 318). It was realised, as the range was further extended by fossil remains, the remains of Pseudomys fieldi represented the easterly bound of the one species (Baynes 1990, 318).
Behavior
It is slightly smaller than a black rat, and quite social, living in small family groups of 4–8 that sheltered by day in a nest of soft, dry grass in a burrow. It usually digs burrows at a depth of 15 centimetres (5.9 in) under bushes.
Status
Gould's mouse was common and widespread before European settlement, but disappeared rapidly after the 1840s, perhaps being exterminated by feral cats. Alternatively, it may have been out-competed by the introduced rats and mice, succumbed to introduced diseases or been affected by grazing stock and changed fire regimes. Despite extensive survey work in its known range, the last specimens were collected in 1856–57, and it was declared officially extinct in 1990 by the IUCN, having been last collected in 1856–1857 by John Gilbert for John Gould, and not sighted since despite several surveys of the area. However, a 2021 genetic study found that it survived on small islands off the coast of Western Australia, in populations which were formerly thought to be their own species known as djoongari. The djoongari is presently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
Notes
- Woinarski, J.; Burbidge, A.A. (2016). "Pseudomys fieldi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T18549A22398445. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T18549A22398445.en. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
- "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
- "Shark Bay Mouse". AWC - Australian Wildlife Conservancy. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
- ^ "Ground-breaking return of native rodents to Dirk Hartog Island". 2 September 2021. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- ^ Roycroft, Emily; MacDonald, Anna J.; et al. (6 July 2021). "Museum genomics reveals the rapid decline and extinction of Australian rodents since European settlement". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 118 (27): e2021390118. Bibcode:2021PNAS..11821390R. doi:10.1073/pnas.2021390118. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 8271571. PMID 34183409.
- ^ Conroy, Gemma (29 June 2021). "Gould's mouse was declared extinct, but DNA shows it still lives on an island in Shark Bay, Western Australia". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
- Australian Associated Press (29 June 2021). "Native mouse believed to be extinct for 150 years found off Western Australia". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
- Roycroft, Emily Jane (28 July 2020). Phylogenomics, molecular evolution and extinction in the adaptive radiation of murine rodents (PhD). . University of Melbourne. hdl:11343/241649. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
- ^ "Australian rodent thought to be extinct is found alive on desert island". www.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
- Cowen, Saul; Rayner, Kelly; Sims, Colleen; (1 July 2021). Dirk Hartog Island National Park Ecological Restoration Project : Stage Two–Year Three Translocation and Monitoring Report
- ^ Woinarski, J.C.Z.; Palmer, B.J.; Cowen, S.; Kanowski, J.; Burbidge, A.A. (2024). "Pseudomys gouldii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2024: e.T248637991A248638568. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
References
- Tim Flannery, Country: a continent, a scientist & a kangaroo, ISBN 1-920885-76-5
- Baynes, A 1990, 'The mammals of Shark Bay, Western Australia', in Research in Shark Bay: Report of the France-Australe bicentenary expedition committee, eds PF Berry, SD Bradshaw & BR Wilson, Western Australian Museum, Perth, WA.
| Taxon identifiers | |
|---|---|
| Pseudomys gouldii |
|