Talk:House Mouse

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[edit] Life Cycle

When do female mice cease being able to reproduce? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.17.154.61 (talk) 00:00, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Population

Could they perhaps be THE most numerous mammal on the planet? After all, wherever we go, mice follow. I wouldn't be surprised if they came to the moon if we ever set up a colony or research station there.I doubt it people are always laying traps. Mice run VERY FAST so make sure you watch out and the mice can get hurt very easily! REMEMBER THAT!!!

I don't know about these most populous rankings. Urban myth would indicate that Rattus Norvegicus gives it a run for its money as do sheep. May I request a citation to support this claim. That would be interesting. Shoot me down in flames if you know better but this looks like a very dubious 'pubfactoid'. That is a 'did you know' fact people come out with down the pub.

--Dan Allen 09:14, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

The citation added to this claim was to someones account of their war time experiences and although mentioning mice, not directly relevant to the second most populous ranking. If it still isn't cited in a month, I'm removing it.

--82.26.82.102 20:11, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

I added the first plausible website reference I could find. It was still saying citation needed. I was curiously looking what could be the most populous mammal on earth, when I found out they probably mean man. As I have a plague of mice and probably killed some 100 of them (and they are still eating poison), I wonder if mice would not be more numerous than man (in population count). In body mass, I guess humans are the most populous.

--87.64.195.78 03:21, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

See Lee Silver's "Mouse Genetics" at the MGI site for verbatim quote, and see list of references. Very much NOT a 'pubfactoid' - Berry, R. J. (1981). Population dynamics of the house mouse. Symp. zool. Soc. London 47: 395-425.

[edit] Subspecies


This is what I would add to the subspecies section:

  • Mus (musculus) musculus Linnaeus, 1758 (East European House Mouse)
  • Mus (musculus) castaneus (Waterhouse, 1843) (Southeast Asian House Mouse)
  • Mus (musculus) domesticus (Rutty, 1772) (West European House Mouse)


An additional subspecies was described by Prager, Orrego and Sage (1998) from the Arabian Peninsula:

  • Mus musculus gentilulus Thomas, 1919

The following were previously identified as subspecies, but have since been found to belong to the subspecies above:

  • Mus musculus homourus (Hodgson, 1845)
  • Mus musculus molossinus (Temminck, 1845; the Japanese house mouse - actually a hybrid of musculus, castaneus and domesticus, Bonhomme 1989)
  • Mus musculus bactrianus (Blyth, 1846)(southwestern Asian House Mouse)
  • Mus musculus brevirostris (Waterhouse, 1837)
  • Mus musculus praetextus (Brants, 1827)
  • Mus musculus spicilegus (Petényi, 1882)
  • Mus musculus spretus (Lataste, 1883)
  • Mus musculus manchu (Thomas, 1909)
  • Mus musculus orientalis (Cretzschmar, 1826)
  • Mus musculus tytleri (Blyth, 1859)
  • Mus musculus urbanus (Hodgson, 1845)
  • Mus musculus wagneri (Eversmann, 1848)


There is also a lot of information that should be mentioned when creating new subspecies entries in the future:

  • Mus (musculus) musculus: Schwarz & Schwarz give the following synonyms: Mus striatus Billberg, 1827; Mus albicans Billberg, 1827; Mus niveus Billberg, 1827; Mus hortulanus Nordmann, 1840; Mus nordmanni Keyserling and Blasius, 1840; Mus helvolus Fitzinger, 1867; Mus tomensis Kastchenko, 1905; Mus raddei Kastchenko, 1905; Mus tataricus Satunin, 1907; Mus sareptanicus Hilzheimer, 1912; Mus germanicus Noack, 1918; Mus heroldi Krausse, 1922; Mus funereus Ognev, 1924; Mus borealis Ognev, 1924; Mus hapsaliensis Reinwald, 1927; Mus vinogradovi Argyropulo, 1933; Mus nogaiorum Heptner, 1934; Mus polonicus Niezabitowsky, 1934; Mus kaleh-peninsularis Goodwin, 1940.
  • Mus (musculus) castaneus (Waterhouse, 1843) was originally described as Mus castaneus by the author. Schwarz & Schwarz give the following synonyms: Mus manei Gray; 1843, Mus rama Blyth, 1865; Mus taitiensis Zelebor, 1868; Mus albertisii Peters and Doria, 1881; Mus commissarius Mearns, 1905; Mus canacorum Revilliod, 1914; Mus momiyamai Kuroda, 1920; Mus sinicus Cabrera, 1922; Mus mystacinus Mohr, 1923; Mus dunckeri Mohr, 1923; Mus frederici Sody, 1933; Mus mohri Ellerman, 1941.
  • Mus (musculus) domesticus (Rutty, 1772) was originally described as Mus domesticus by the author. Schwarz & Schwarz give the following synonyms: Mus albus Bechstein, 1801; Mus flavus Bechstein, 1801; Mus maculatus Bechstein, 1801; Mus niger Bechstein, 1801; Mus islandicus Thienemann, 1827; Mus adelaidensis Gray, 1841; Mus nudoplicatus Gaskoin, 1856; Mus varius Fitzinger, 1867; Mus cinereo-maculatus Fitzinger, 1867; Mus melanogaster Minà-Palumbo, 1868; Mus albinus Minà-Palumbo, 1868; Mus rubicundus Minà-Palumbo, 1868; Mus poschiavinus Fatio, 1869; Mus flavescens Fischer, 1872; Mus simsoni Higgins and Petterd, 1882; Mus muralis Barrett-Hamilton, 1899; Mus subterraneus Montessus, 1899; Mus faroensis Clarke, 1904; Mus ater Fraipont, 1907; Mus airolensis Burg, 1921; Mus jamesonii Krausse, 1921; Mus subcoeruleus Fritsche, 1928; Mus formosovi Heptner 1930; Mus caudatus Martino, 1934; Mus mykinessiensis Degerbøl, 1940.
  • Mus musculus homourus (Hodgson, 1845) was originally described as Mus homourus by the author. Schwarz & Schwarz give the following synonyms: Mus nipalensis Hodgens (nom. nud.), 1841; Mus darjilingensis Hodgens, 1849; Mus kakhyenensis Anderson, 1878; Mus caroli Bonhote, 1902; Mus ouwensi Kloss, 1921; Mus formosanus Kuroda, 1925; Mus tantillus Allen, 1927; Mus taiwanus Horikawa, 1929; Mus boninensis Kuroda, 1930.
  • Mus musculus molossinus (Temminck, 1845) was originally described as Mus molossinus by the author. Schwarz & Schwarz give the following synonyms: Mus rotans Fortuyn, 1911; Mus kurilensis Kuroda, 1924; Mus orii Kuroda, 1924; Mus yonakuni Kuroda, 1924; Mus albula Minouchi, 1928; Mus kambei Kishida and Mori, 1931; Mus tokagii Kishida and Mori, 1931; Mus yamashinai Kuroda, 1934; Mus longicauda Mori, 1939; Mus kuro Kuroda, 1940.
  • Mus musculus bactrianus (Blyth, 1846) was originally described as Mus bactrianus by the author. Schwarz & Schwarz give the following synonyms: Mus gerbillinus Blyth, 1853; Mus theobaldi Blyth, 1853; Mus gentilulus Thomas, 1919.
  • Mus musculus brevirostris (Waterhouse, 1837) was originally described as Mus brevirostris by the author. Schwarz & Schwarz give the following synonyms: Mus abbottii Waterhouse, 1837; Mus parvulus Tschudi, 1844; Mus azoricus Schinz, 1845; Mus mollissimus Dehne, 1855; Mus nattereri Fitzinger, 1867; Mus flavescens Barrett-Hamilton, 1896; Mus jalapae Allen and Chapman, 1897; Mus caoccii Krausse, 1920; Mus far Cabrera, 1921; Mus percnonotus Moulthrop, 1942.
  • Mus musculus praetextus (Brants, 1827) was originally described as Mus praetextus by the author. Schwarz & Schwarz give the following synonyms: Mus gentilis Brants, 1827; Mus rebudia Loche, 1867; Mus pallesceus Heuglin, 1877; Mus candidus Laurent, 1937.
  • Mus musculus spicilegus (Petényi, 1882) was originally described as Mus spicilegus by the author. Schwarz & Schwarz give the following synonyms: Mus acervator Petényi, 1882; Mus acervifex Petényi, 1882; Mus canicularius Petényi, 1882; Mus caniculator Petényi, 1882; Mus sergii Valch, 1927.
  • Mus musculus spretus (Lataste, 1883) was originally described as Mus spretus by the author. Schwarz & Schwarz give the following synonyms: Mus hispanicus Miller, 1909; Mus lusitanicus Miller, 1909; Mus mogrebinus Cabrera, 1911; Mus lynesi Cabrera, 1923; Mus rifensis Cabrera, 1923.
  • Mus musculus manchu (Thomas, 1909) was originally described as Mus wagneri manchu by the author. Schwarz & Schwarz give the following synonyms: Mus yesonis Thomas, 1928; Mus takayamai Kuroda, 1938.
  • Mus musculus orientalis (Cretzschmar, 1826) was originally described as Mus orientalis by the author. Schwarz & Schwarz give one synonym for that subspecies: Mus vignaudii Prévost and des Murs, 1845.
  • Mus musculus tytleri (Blyth, 1859) was originally described as Mus tytleri by the author. Schwarz & Schwarz give no synonyms for that subspecies.
  • Mus musculus urbanus (Hodgson, 1845) was originally described as Mus urbanus by the author. Schwarz & Schwarz give the following synonyms: Mus dubius Hodgson, 1845; Mus viculorum Anderson, 1878.
  • Mus musculus wagneri (Eversmann, 1848) was originally described as Mus wagneri by the author. Schwarz & Schwarz give the following synonyms: Mus major Severtzow, 1873; Mus tokmak Severtzow, 1873; Mus pachycercus Blassford, 1875; Mus bicolor Tichomirov and Kashkarov, 1889; Mus gansuensis Satunin, 1902; Mus mongolium Thomas, 1908; Mus severtzowi Kashkarov, 1922; Mus oxyrrhinus Kashkarov, 1922; Mus decolor Argyropulo, 1933; Mus bieni Young, 1934.

Note that all subspecies given here were originally described as true species, except Mus musculus manchu!

from Schwarz & Schwarz, 1943 The wild and commensal stocks of the house mouse Mus musculus Linnaeus Journal of Mammalogy, pp. 59-72

Elatrin (talk) 14:43, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Question

I have a question that hopefully someone can answer for me, my roommate just caught a rather small mouse in our apartment (by catch I mean he actually caught it humanely, not in a trap), he now is keeping it in a large box in our room as our pet. Is there a significant risk of disease from having him around here? What kind of disease? Would people advise release? Thanks for any help!

Don't know about the disease, but I do know that I wouldn't be happy if someone grabbed me by the neck and put me in a box. Cheers, AxelBoldt 22:47, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Discussion for merge suggestion for C57BL/6

I dont see a need to merge. There are lot of data on each of the lab strains. we should have separate articles on each of them. --Dr.saptarshi 07:07, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. There are probably lots of articles of strains of lab mice on Wikipedia already. This article could use a list of those in the end, though. // habj 09:33, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
Also don't see need to merge. A link from house mouse with a short summary referring to the full article on BL6 would be better. Jasu 13:52, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

I too oppose the merge. --Jcbutler 00:25, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

No need to merge. The C57BL/6 article stands well on its own. It's also practical. Anyone who needs the C57BL/6 information for business or science purposes would appreciate that it had its own entry. Dr. Saptarshi's idea of seperate articles for each lab strain is something I support. Again, no layperson researching 'house mouse' is going to be thinking in the back of their mind, "What was that I heard about C57BL/6 on the news the other day?". 67.121.144.150 11:13, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

I also oppose the merge: a C57BL.6 is very different to a "house mouse" and the info contained in the two articles would be of interest to substantially different readerships. PMN 032207

I don't think it is a good idea either, and since it's obviously not going to reach consensus, I'll go ahead and remove the merge tags. —Celithemis 23:58, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Addition

Something about the ability of the mouse to get into tight places, underneath doors, through holes that look impossible for them to go through, etc. would be relevant. Also, something that talks about what they can gnaw through - IE, how strong their teeth are.

[edit] why the M

May I ask why is "Mouse" capitalized in this (and various other animal) article's names? I would have thought it would be more logical for them to be lower case, since they aren't a proper noun? Sorry if this is the wrong place to write this, kinda new here... :) Aillema 22:21, 5 May 2007 (UTC)