The Crete spiny mouse (''Acomys minous'') is a species of mouse

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

. It is characterized by the coarse, stiff hairs on its back and tail and a notably grayer coloration and more pointed face than other species of spiny mice. Its fur color varies from yellow to red, gray or brown on its face and back, with white fur on its underside. It is a

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

forager, feeding mainly on grass blades and seeds, and builds only a very rudimentary nest. The

gestation Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregn ...

is between five and six weeks, which is unusually long for a mouse. At birth, other females clean and assist the mother. The young are well developed with open eyes when they are born. Its taxonomic position is uncertain (it may be a variant of the Cairo spiny mouse) leading the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

to consider it data deficient, but it is common within its range and even if a valid species it is not threatened.

Phylogenetics

The Cretan spiny mouse exists in three distinct chromosomal forms across the island, with

chromosome A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes, the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with nucleosome-forming packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells, the most import ...

numbers of 38, 40, or 42. Scientists believe the 42-chromosome form is the oldest version, with the others evolving through a process where chromosomes fuse together. These different forms can successfully interbreed where their territories overlap, producing healthy hybrid

offspring In biology, offspring are the young creation of living organisms, produced either by sexual reproduction, sexual or asexual reproduction. Collective offspring may be known as a brood or progeny. This can refer to a set of simultaneous offspring ...

. DNA studies reveal that Cretan spiny mice belong to two genetic lineages despite looking identical. This genetic split likely occurred before mice ever reached Crete. The Cretan spiny mouse is part of the ''cahirinus'' group, which includes similar mice from Cyprus, Turkey, and North Africa – all so genetically similar that some scientists suggest they might be varieties of a single species rather than truly distinct species. Evidence indicates that these mice are not native to Crete but arrived relatively recently, possibly brought by humans during ancient times. They likely originated from North African populations, with either multiple

colonization 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

events or the founding population already containing

genetic diversity Genetic diversity is the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species. It ranges widely, from the number of species to differences within species, and can be correlated to the span of survival for a species. It is d ...

. Their isolated existence on Crete may eventually lead to complete speciation, though currently their

divergence In vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that operates on a vector field, producing a scalar field giving the rate that the vector field alters the volume in an infinitesimal neighborhood of each point. (In 2D this "volume" refers to ...

from mainland relatives remains minimal. A major advancement in Cretan spiny mouse research came in 2025 with the completion of its reference

genome A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...

as part of the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) initiative. The high-quality chromosome-level assembly was successfully assembled into 20 contiguous chromosomal pseudomolecules, spanning 2.35 Gb with excellent completeness metrics (95.3% BUSCO completeness). This genomic resource is a tool for further investigating the evolutionary history and phylogenetic relationships of ''Acomys minous'' within its genus. The genome contains 19,865 protein-coding genes and reveals the genetic architecture of this species that has been the subject of taxonomic debate. With this genomic foundation, researchers can now explore more conclusively whether ''A. minous'' should be considered a distinct species or a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of the North African ''A. cahirinus'', potentially resolving the long-standing controversy about its taxonomic status.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q304975 Acomys Rodents of Europe Endemic fauna of Crete Mammals described in 1906