The Chadwick Beach cotton mouse (''Peromyscus gossypinus restrictus'') is a presumably extinct subspecies of the

cotton mouse The cotton mouse (''Peromyscus gossypinus'') is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae found in the woodlands of the US South. Description Adults are about long, with a tail around , and weigh 34-51 g. Its general appearance is very si ...

. It was confined to a small area on the Manasota Key Peninsula in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Description

It was smaller and paler than the nominate subspecies. The total length was 172 mm, the tail length 72.5 mm, the hind foot length 22.3 mm, the ear length 22.3 mm, and largest skull length was 27.6 mm. The zygomatic breadth was 13.9 mm, the preorbital breadth was 4.4 mm, the nasal length was 10.9 mm, and the length of the teeth in the maxilla was 3.9 mm. The upper parts were pink cinnamon, with a rufous hue in the middle of the back. The under parts were white with a pale pink buff wash on the chest. The tail was brown above and buff below. The dorsal stripe in the middle of the back was smaller than in the nominate race.

Distribution

The mouse was primarily found in the Chadwick Beach area at Englewood in Sarasota County and Englewood Beach in the southern part of

Englewood, Florida Englewood is a census-designated place (CDP) in Charlotte and Sarasota counties in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 20,800. The Sarasota County portion of Englewood is part of the North Port–Saras ...

, in Charlotte County.

Habitat and ecology

It preferred

maritime forest A maritime forest is an ocean coastal wooded habitat found on higher ground than dune areas within range of salt spray. They can be found along the Atlantic and Pacific Northwest coasts of the United States. They can also be found in areas of So ...

s with closed canopies. Characteristic trees of these forests are ''

Sabal palmetto ''Sabal palmetto'' (, '' SAY-bəl''), also known as cabbage palm, cabbage palmetto, sabal palm, blue palmetto, Carolina palmetto, common palmetto, Garfield's tree, and swamp cabbage, is one of 15 species of palmetto palm. It is native to the So ...

'', ''

Quercus virginiana ''Quercus virginiana'', also known as the southern live oak, is an evergreen oak tree endemic to the Southeastern United States. Though many other species are loosely called live oak, the southern live oak is particularly iconic of the Old Sou ...

'', and ''

Juniperus virginiana ''Juniperus virginiana'', also known as red cedar, eastern red cedar, Virginian juniper, eastern juniper, red juniper, and other local names, is a species of juniper native to eastern North America from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico a ...

'' var. ''silicicola''. It was also found on sand dunes where

sea oats ''Uniola paniculata'', also known as sea oats, seaside oats, araña, and arroz de costa, is a tall subtropical grass that is an important component of coastal sand dune and beach plant communities in the southeastern United States, eastern Me ...

(''Uniola paniculata''), a high growing grass species, is the dominant vegetation. Like the nominate subspecies, the Chadwick Beach cotton mouse was nocturnal. The ecology of this subspecies is not studied.

Extinction

It is only known by 15 specimens collected by Luther C. Goldman in March 1938. It is now presumed extinct after extensive surveys in 1984, 1985, 1988, and 1989 failed to find the mouse again. Causes for its disappearance might have been the deforestation of the maritime forests in the southernmost part of Sarasota County, as well as 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 ...

References

*Stephen R. Humphrey (Edit.): ''Rare and Endangered Biota of Florida. Volume 1. Mammals''. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 1992. *Arthur H. Howell: ''Descriptions of Five New Mammals from Florida''. Journal of Mammalogy, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Aug., 1939). American Society of Mammalogists: p 363-365

External links

NatureServe ReportChadwick Beach Cotton Mouse Survey
{{Taxonbar, from=Q859900 Peromyscus Extinct rodents Species made extinct by human activities Rodent extinctions since 1500 1938 in the environment Mammals described in 1939 Endemic mammals of the United States Taxa named by Arthur H. Howell