Endangered
Heath mouse
Pseudomys shortridgei
Heath mouse is a rodent in the family Muridae (order Rodentia) — Pseudomys shortridgei, recorded as Endangered and tied to Australia.
Appearance
The pelage is densely furred and their body is comparatively stocky, the tail is well covered in dark brown hair at the upper side and a whitish colour below. Heath mouse have a broad face and short muzzle, and rounded ears that are 14 to 16 mm (0.55 to 0.63 in) from the notch at the head. The fur colour of Heath mouse is warm brown at the upper side, flecked with buff and blackish tones for an overall grey-brown effect.
A larger species of the Pseudomys, a genus of Australian rodents, with a body mass in a range from 55 to 90 grams (1.9 to 3.2 oz) for an average weight of 70 grams (2.5 oz).
Range and habitat
The population occurs in two geographically remote regions in the east and west of the continent. The habitat in the east is heathlands and heath-like scrub in treeless areas, the preferred vegetation type in southwest Australia is taller scrubland associated with mallee trees and climax heath assemblages in undisturbed areas. A population has been recorded on Kangaroo Island, but its current status is unknown.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet
The species primary diet is herbivorous, consuming the green shoots of grasses when flowers and seeds are out of season, and fungivorous, eating the fruiting bodies of some fungi species. The diet has been termed as generalist, and there is evidence of gut morphology that would favour the consumption of course plant and fungal material.
Around one third of the diet is subterranean fruiting bodies, potentially nutritious truffle-like food in the soil. Seeds are a major component of their diet when they are most available, during the earlier part of the austral summer, then shoots and leaves of grasses and other monocot species.
In crisis
Based on an assessment published in 2012 and current in 2016, the IUCN Red List has assigned Heath mouse a classification of near threatened, of less concern than the conservations status of vulnerable. The population trajectory is noted as declining toward extinction, potentially elevating the concern if it continues, and was estimated to be a total of around 11,000 individuals in 2012. This species is listed as threatened in the states of Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia.
The national status of P. Shortridgei (EPBC act, 1999) is vulnerable to extinction. The heath rat was considered to be nationally then regionally extinct during the twentieth century, but rediscovered as fragmented populations at locations in the states listing them as vulnerable.
Heath mouse is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Heath mouse, Wikidata item Q1762238. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
