The false canyon mouse or Coronados deer mouse (''Peromyscus pseudocrinitus''), 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 lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are roden ...

in the family

Cricetidae The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, muskrats, and New World rats and mice. At almost 608 species, it is the second-largest family of mammals, a ...

. It is known only from Coronados Island, a small island in the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja C ...

, part of

Baja California Sur Baja California Sur (; 'South Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California Sur ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California Sur), is the least populated state and the 31st admitted state of the 32 federal ent ...

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

. The species is threatened by predation by

feral cat A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact: it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...

s, and the IUCN has assessed its conservation status as " critically endangered".

Description

The false canyon mouse grows to a total length of about including a tail of . The dorsal fur is greyish-black glossed with cinnamon, and the underparts are white. The tail is scantily clad with hairs; the top half is blackish while the bottom side is pale, except for near the tip where it is dark both above and below. The skull resembles that of the canyon mouse (''Peromyscus crinitus'') but is longer and narrower. The false canyon mouse has the darkest colouring of any of the members of the genus ''

Peromyscus ''Peromyscus'' is a genus of rodents. They are commonly referred to as deer mice or deermice, not to be confused with the chevrotain or "mouse deer". They are New World mice only distantly related to the common house and laboratory mouse, ''Mu ...

'' that live on the string of islands in the

. Similar mice inhabit other islands in the Gulf and the colour of each species tends to resemble that of the surrounding rocks and sand; the rocks on Isla Coronados are dark.

Distribution and habitat

This mouse is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found els ...

to Coronados Island in the state of

, Mexico. This is an uninhabited island, a strip of land of volcanic origin some long and wide. The east side of the island has steep cliffs, and the southwestern corner has a long sandy spit that stretches away towards the mainland. The island has much rock and the vegetation is arid scrub. The mice are to be found burrowing in the sandy spit and living among the rocks.

Status

''P. pseudocrinitus'' is threatened by

s that live on the island. It is thought these have caused a decline in the population of the species, and another species of mouse that used to be present on the island has become

locally extinct Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...

. In 1989, researchers were unable to find any false canyon mice on the island, but in 1994, twenty were located in a single night. Because of their small area of occupancy and their small total number, the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natur ...

has assessed their conservation status as " critically endangered".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1769654 Peromyscus Endemic mammals of Mexico Fauna of Gulf of California islands Rodents of North America Critically endangered biota of Mexico Critically endangered fauna of North America Mammals described in 1932 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Endemic fauna of the Baja California Peninsula