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Mount Tapulao forest mouse

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Mount Tapulao forest mouse
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Genus: Apomys
Species:
A. brownorum
Binomial name
Apomys brownorum
Heaney, Balete, Alviola, Duya, Veluz, VandeVrede & Steppan, 2011[1]

The Mount Tapulao forest mouse (Apomys brownorum) is a forest mouse endemic to the Mount Tapulao area in the Philippines.[1] It is named after the American zoologist Barbara Elaine Russell Brown.[2]

Anatomy and physiology

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The mouse is the smallest species in its genus, measuring in total "230-255 mm; tail: 107-116 mm; hind foot: 31-35 mm; ear: 21 - 22 mm" and weighing 60-84 grams.[3] On its dorsal side, the mouse has long, dense, soft, dark brown fur, with dark gray ventral fur turning a lighter gray-brown at the tips. Its tail is bicolored, "dark grayish-brown dorsally and nearly white ventrally."[3]

Ecology

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The Mount Tapulaou forest mouse lives in old growth cloud forests and regenerating secondary forests at a height of 2024 m, with a lower limit somewhere between 1690 m and 2024 m. It is unknown how extensive chromium mining of the habitat affects the species.[3]

Behavior

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The mouse eats seeds and invertebrates such as earthworms. It is nocturnal.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b Heaney, L.R.; Balete, D.S.; Veluz, M.J.; Steppan, S.J.; Esseltyn, J.A.; Pfeiffer, A.W.; Rickart, E.A. (2014). "Two new species of Philippine forest mice (Apomys, Muridae, Rodentia) from Lubang and Luzon Islands, with a redescription of Apomys sacobianus Johnson, 1962". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 126 (4): 395–413. doi:10.2988/0006-324X-126.4.395. S2CID 49347286.
  2. ^ Megan, Graydon. "Barbara Brown, Field Museum research assistant on expeditions to far-flung locales, dies". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
  3. ^ a b c d lheaney (2011-07-21). "Apomys brownorum". Field Museum. Retrieved 2019-11-09.