The Awash multimammate mouse or Awash mastomys (''Mastomys awashensis'') is a species of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

in the family

Muridae The Muridae, or murids, are either the largest or second-largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 870 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. ...

found only in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. Phylogentically the Awash multimammate mouse is the sister taxon of the

Natal multimammate mouse The Natal multimammate mouse (''Mastomys natalensis'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is also known as the Natal multimammate rat, the common African rat, African soft fur rat or the African soft-furred mouse. The Natal multimam ...

(''M. natalensis''), a species found almost everywhere in Africa south of the Sahara and considered a serious agricultural pest throughout its range.

Habitat

Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are dry

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

and

arable land Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of a ...

. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

. It is also considered as a pest for grain crops.

Ecology

The species' ecology has been studied in detail in the croplands of the

Degua Tembien Dogu'a Tembien (, "Upper Tembien", sometimes transliterated as Degua Tembien or Dägʿa Tämben) is a districts of Ethiopia, woreda in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. It is named in part after the former province of Tembien Province, Tembien. Nowadays, ...

district in

Tigray The Tigray Region (or simply Tigray; officially the Tigray National Regional State) is the northernmost Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob people, Irob and Kunama people. I ...

, where it commonly occurs in crop fields, domestic and peri-domestic habitats in wider altitudinal range (1500 m up to 2700 m). Being a nocturnal and burrowing species, it prefers crop fields with

vertisols A vertisol is a Soil Order in the USDA soil taxonomy and a Reference Soil Group in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB). It is also defined in many other soil classification systems. In the Australian Soil Classification it is c ...

. Likewise, the multimammate mouse possibly contributes to a significant portion to the rodent diet of night-active raptors such as

Barn owl The barn owls, owls in the genus '' Tyto'', are the most widely distributed genus of owls in the world. They are medium-sized owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long, strong legs with powerful talons. The ter ...

References

* Endemic fauna of Ethiopia Mastomys Mammals of Ethiopia Mammals described in 1998 Rodents of Africa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Murinae-stub