Dear All,
Just to muddy the waters, according to the Index of Organism Names
(ION), who seem to think the know a thing or two about the subject,
Mus domesticus was used by Rutty in 1772. Mus musculus, however, was
used by Linneaus in 1758, perhaps earlier. So it seems that we may
have two seperate species of House Mouse, with only a Taxonomists
whisker between them.
Interestingly, the distribution map does not show Mus domesticus
existing in Australia, being confined to Europe, Middle East and a few
areas of the Americas.
With Australia's history of shipping coming in from all over the Asia-
Pacific, Americas and all ports of call from Europe, I would imagine
whatever species of "House Mouse" we have here in Australia would have
pretty mixed genes.
If anyone wants to look-up ION, a very handy reference, go to
http://www.organismnames.com/query.htm
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
On 29/09/2010, at 9:18 PM, John Harris wrote:
Hi Clive and others,
according to the latest Mammals of Australia 3rd Edition edited by Van
Dyck and Strahan (2008) Mus musculus is still the species name given to
House Mouse in Australia. I have heard of it referred to as M.
domesticus but as yet I haven't found a reference to that name in the
"common" literature at least.
May be something our taxonomists need to check on. I am happy to be
corrected or pointed in the direction of references to the contrary.
Yours in all things "green"
Regards
John Harris
Manager, Environment and Sustainability
Donvale Christian College
155 Tindals Rd Donvale 3111
03 9844 2471 Ext 217
0409 090 955
President, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV)
Past President, Victorian Association for Environmental Education
(VAEE)
clive herbert <> 29/09/2010 8:40 PM >>>
The correct specific name for the House Mouse that we have in Britain
is Mus domesticus not Mus musculus. Originally the introduced House
Mouse in Western Europe (including Britain) was regarded as one variable
species Mus musculus. Several species have now been recognised,
including M. spretis (Iberia), M. domesticus (rest of western Europe)
and M. musculus (eastern Europe) which meet but scarcely interbreed
along a line from Denmark to the Dalmatian coast. All of the lab mice
etc are from M. domesticus. Assuming that the introduced population
present in Australia will most likely to have originated from the UK,
rather than mainland Europe, then your species should now be called M.
domesticus.
Clive Herbert
Director
Amphibian, Reptile & Mammal Conservation Ltd
67A Ridgeway Avenue
East Barnet
Hertfordshire
England
EN4 8TL
From:
To:
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:30:32 +1000
Subject: [Birding-Aus] Off topic - Mouse ID
Thanks to all the people who responded to my request - nearly
universally
the mouse was identified as a plain old house mouse, Mus Musculus.
Bill
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