The short-tailed hopping mouse (''Notomys amplus'') is an extinct

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals 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' ...

from open stony (gibber) plains with desert grasses, low shrubs and sand ridges in the area around Charlotte Waters, near

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

in Central Australia. It weighed 80 grams. The last record is from June 1896. Only two complete specimens were collected, probably from

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the T ...

. It was among the largest of all Australian hopping mice recorded in Australia; it was twice as heavy as any living species of hopping mice, although fossils suggest the extinct

great hopping mouse The great hopping mouse (''Notomys robustus'') is an extinct species of mammal native to Australia. It is known only from skulls found in owl pellets in the Flinders Ranges. Some pellets also include bones of the introduced house mouse The hou ...

may have been a similar size. The short-tailed hopping mouse was predominantly brown in colour, its tail probably being as long as its body. This species' decline was due to a number of factors, some of which were being hunted by predators such as

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

es,

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

s and habitat alterations.

External source

* * Northern Territory Government, Chris Pavey [May 2006
Threatened species of Northern Territory

References

Notomys Extinct rodents Extinct mammals of Australia Rodent extinctions since 1500 Extinct mammals of South Australia Mammals of the Northern Territory Rodents of Australia Mammal extinctions since 1500 Mammals described in 1936 {{Murinae-stub