Broad-toothed mouse
| Broad-toothed mouse | |
|---|---|
| File:Broad toothed mouse 1.JPG | |
| Scientific classification Edit this classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Tribe: | Hydromyini |
| Genus: | Mastacomys Thomas, 1882 |
| Species: | M. fuscus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Mastacomys fuscus Thomas, 1882
| |
The broad-toothed mouse or broad-toothed rat (Mastacomys fuscus) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.
Distribution and habitat
[edit | edit source]It is found only in South-eastern Australia. In Victoria live specimens have been caught in the Snowfields, Great Dividing Range (to Cooma in New South Wales),[2] Gippsland Highlands, Otway Ranges and Wilsons Promontory. Specimens located in scats have been found in the Otway plains and East Gippsland.[3] The species is also recorded in buttongrass sedgeland up to 1000 metres in western Tasmania.[4]
Habitat preferences are areas of herbfields, grasslands and forests with minimal shrubs but a dense covering of sedge, grass, herbs and moss, where precipitation does not fall below 1400 mm per year in alpine areas and others 1000 mm at lower altitudes (DCNR 1995 pp. 208–210).
During the Pleistocene, the broad-toothed mouse dominated Badger Island alongside other grassland-dwelling mammals, but over the course of the Holocene, it and other grassland mammals were replaced with a forest-adapted fauna.[5]
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Menkhorst, P.; Knight, F. (2001). A field Guide to the Mammals of Australia. Oxford Press. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)..
- ^ Department of Conservation and Natural Resources edited by Menkhorst, P,W 1995 "Mammals of Victoria" Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Menkhorst and Knight, 2001 p. 198
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- BROAD-TOOTHED RAT, MASTACOMYS FUSCUS (RODENTIA, MURIDAE), FOUND IN ALPINE HEATHLAND IN TASMANIA by MICHAEL M. DRIESSEN
External links
[edit | edit source]- Error creating thumbnail: File missing Media related to Lua error in Module:Commons_link at line 62: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). at Wikimedia Commons
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