The Camiguin forest mouse (''Apomys camiguinensis'') is a forest

mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

endemic to the

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

Camiguin Camiguin, officially the Province of Camiguin (; ; Kamigin: ''Probinsya ta Kamigin''), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Bohol Sea, about off the northern coast of mainland Mindanao. It is geographically part of Region ...

in the southern

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It has large ears and eyes, a long tail and rusty-brown fur, and it feeds mostly on

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s and

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

s. This description is based on mice captured during a biological survey conducted in 1994 and 1995 high on the steep slopes of one of the island's

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

es. In April, 2006, the new mammal, a Philippine forest mouse, now identified as ''Apomys camiguinensis'' was captured on the steep slopes of a volcano of

during a biological survey by Heaney and Tabaranza. In 2002, Heaney, Tabaranza, and Eric Rickart (from the

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Museum of Natural History), described a different species of forest-living rodent, '' Bullimus gamay'', from Mt. Timpoong, the same mountain where the new mouse was collected. A frog (''

Oreophryne nana ''Aphantophryne nana'' is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is Endemism, endemic to the Philippines and is known with certainty only from the island of Camiguin. It is unclear whether similar frogs from northeast Mindanao are ref ...

'') named in 1967 had been thought to be the only vertebrate restricted to the island prior to the surveys by Heaney and Tabaranza. The scientists' research was described in the April 5 issue of Fieldiana: Zoology, a scientific journal about biodiversity research published by The Field Museum. It is endemically distributed to Dinagat (FMNH),

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

(

Benguet Benguet (), officially the Province of Benguet ('';'' ; ; ; ), is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the southern tip of the Cordillera Administrative Region in the island of Luzon. Its capital cit ...

SNM

Camarines Sur Camarines Sur (; ), officially the Province of Camarines Sur (Central Bikol language, Bikol: ''Probinsya kan Habagatan na Camarines''; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Bicol Region on Luzon. Its ca ...

MNH and Isabela MNHprovinces) and

Mindoro Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ), it has a population of 1,408,454, as of the 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of ...

(FMNH). It is abundant in primary montane forest (1125 – 1350 m), uncommon in mossy forest (1550 – 1750 m), and absent in disturbed lowland forest (475 – 900 m) on Mt. Isarog, southern Luzon, and also in montane forest at 925 m elevation in Balbalasang, Kalinga Province.''Apomys musculus''
The Field Museum

References

;Notes ;Sources * Heaney, L.R., Tabaranza Jr, B.R., Balete, D.S. and Rigertas, N. (2006) Synopsis and biogeography of the mammals of Camiguin Island, Philippines. Fieldiana Zoology, 106: 28-48. * Heaney, L.R. and Tabaranza Jr, B.R. (2006) Mammal and land bird studies on Camiguin Island, Philippines: Background and conservation priorities. Fieldiana: Zoology, New Series, 106: 1-13. * Heaney, L.R. and Tabaranza Jr, B.R. (2006) A new species of forest mouse, genus Apomys (Mammalia, Rodentia, Muridae) from Camiguin Island, Philippines. Fieldiana: Zoology, New Series, 106: 14-27.

External links

''Two new species discovered, bolster case for Philippine conservation,''
aribon Foundation.
Aseanbiodiversity.org
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1971209 Apomys Fauna of Camiguin Mammals described in 2006