Posted on 06/09/2004 4:00:51 PM PDT by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
SALT LAKE CITY - It's tiny, with a long tail, two sets of whiskers and powerful jaws. And it may just be the newest species of mouse, found on a Philippine island by a group of researchers that included a Utah man.
Eric Rickart, the Utah Museum of Natural History's curator of vertebrates, said the 15-gram rodent with a 4-inch tail and strong, sharp toes is unlike any other mouse found on any Philippine island.
"We were lucky to catch it," he said.
After a month of study from late April to late May, the researchers caught the mouse in a lowland forest on south-central Luzon Island, about 50 miles from Manila.
Rickart said the mouse may have wandered down from a higher spot in the forest canopy. Depending on the light, it can appear to be bright orange, said Rickart, who has been studying mammals in the Philippines for 15 years.
In addition to the mouse's whiskers on its snout, it has other long whiskers that grow from behind each eye.
"We've never seen anything like it," Rickart said.
Researchers hope to catch more of the rodents in future field seasons to learn more.
Scientists who study how isolation affects evolution have often sought out islands. Charles Darwin honed some of his evolutionary theories using animals found on the Galapagos Islands (news - web sites).
"The Philippines are even more remarkable for having just about the highest concentration of unique species," Rickart said.
The yet-to-be-named mouse, which may also be a new genus, lived in the remnants of a tropical forest, which are among the world's most endangered types of habitats.
Luzon Island supports about four or five other groups of mice and rats, most of which descend from two species that made it to the island sometime during its 15-million-year history.
The tiny mice may have floated to their new homes on fallen logs and thrived on the island, Rickart said.
I think they'll need to catch more than one.
All rodents are of the same order, but there are 4,000 different rodent species, including many different species of mouse.
http://www.bartleby.com/65/ro/rodent.html
http://www.bartleby.com/65/mo/mouse.html
Wouldn't it be accurately described as a mouse subspecies, presuming that if bred with a garden-variety mouse it would produce fertile offspring?
I hope they didn't catch the last female
Its a mouse! Quick! Kill it!
When the media jumps on a science story they inevitably distort the facts and make judgement calls before the Scientists have even made up their minds.
Yet they consider themselves enlightened, LOL!
If it were moose instead of mouse, that would be something here.
Normally I'd agree with you,
but I've become a little disoriented by a related thread:
Caenorhabditis phylogeny predicts convergence of hermaphroditism and extensive intron loss
I haven't quite figured out exactly what it's all about.
But that part about "hermaphroditism" makes me suspicious that maybe they don't need more than one.
But what about the Utah man?
Well if they had discovered a new species of gerbil,
I'd guess that maybe he moved to San Francisco with Kennewick man.
But seeing as it's only a mouse, I see no reason for alarm.
That pic kills Larry (-:
"That pic kills Larry (-:"
Thank mhking. I linked to it from his profile page.
Eek, it's a mouse! Pong
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