The Cypriot mouse (''Mus cypriacus'') is a species of

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'' ...

that is

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 ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. Its primary habitat seems to be the vineyards and fields of the Troödos Mountains region.

Taxonomy

The mouse was recognized as a new species in 2004 by , a research fellow at the

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

. It was formally described in 2006, in the journal ''

Zootaxa ''Zootaxa'' is a peer-reviewed scientific mega journal for animal taxonomists. It is published by Magnolia Press (Auckland, New Zealand). The journal was established by Zhi-Qiang Zhang in 2001 and new issues are published multiple times a week ...

''. The Cypriot mouse has characteristics that distinguish it from other European mice: bigger ears, eyes and teeth; DNA tests confirmed that it was a distinct species. Its closest relative is '' Mus macedonicus'', native to southeastern Europe through the Levant. "All other endemic mammals of Mediterranean islands died out following the arrival of man, with the exception of two species of

shrew Shrews ( family Soricidae) are small mole-like mammals classified in the order Eulipotyphla. True shrews are not to be confused with treeshrews, otter shrews, elephant shrews, West Indies shrews, or marsupial shrews, which belong to dif ...

. The new mouse of Cyprus is the only endemic rodent still alive, and as such can be considered as a

living fossil A living fossil is a Deprecation, deprecated term for an extant taxon that phenotypically resembles related species known only from the fossil record. To be considered a living fossil, the fossil species must be old relative to the time of or ...

," said Cucchi. It is the only endemic species of terrestrial mammal that was present on Cyprus during the Pleistocene to remain extant, with the three other species, the Cyprus dwarf hippopotamus, the Cyprus dwarf elephant, and the Cyprus genet becoming extinct at the end of the Pleistocene around 12-11,000 years ago, following the arrival of humans to the islands.

Population genetics

Genetic analyses of ''Mus cypriacus'', using

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...

(mtDNA) and

microsatellite A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain Sequence motif, DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organ ...

markers, revealed no significant population structure across Cyprus, indicating the species maintains high

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 ...

throughout its range. A study conducted in 2024 found that the species demonstrates high

haplotype A haplotype (haploid genotype) is a group of alleles in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent. Many organisms contain genetic material (DNA) which is inherited from two parents. Normally these organisms have their DNA orga ...

diversity (0.98), comparable to its closely related continental counterparts, '' Mus macedonicus'' and '' Mus spicilegus''. This high diversity is somewhat unexpected for an island species, as isolated populations typically have reduced genetic variability. The substantial size of Cyprus (approximately 9,251 km²) likely supports a large population, facilitating the maintenance of this genetic diversity. Analyses of microsatellite loci also indicated no evidence of recent

genetic bottleneck A population bottleneck or genetic bottleneck is a sharp reduction in the size of a population due to environmental events such as famines, earthquakes, floods, fires, disease, and droughts; or human activities such as genocide, speciocide, wid ...

s, reinforcing the impression of a stable population. Bayesian analyses of mitochondrial sequences estimated the divergence between ''M. cypriacus'' and ''M. macedonicus'' to be around 630,000 years ago, aligning with historical periods when Cyprus was more accessible due to lowered sea levels. This allowed ancestral mice to colonize the island and eventually evolve into the endemic species. Habitat analyses suggest that ''M. cypriacus'' occupies diverse environments across more than 80% of Cyprus, predominantly in agricultural landscapes, semi-natural forests, and areas with some anthropogenic influence. Although currently assessed as

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

by 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 ...

, ongoing

habitat destruction 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 ...

due to

urban development Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of peop ...

and competition with

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

such as domestic house mice remain potential threats to this genetically diverse rodent.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q245798 Mus (rodent) Mammals described in 2006 Endemic fauna of Cyprus Rodents of Europe