The Darling Downs hopping mouse (''Notomys mordax'') is an extinct species of mammal in the family

Muridae The Muridae, or murids, are the largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 1,383 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. The name Muridae come ...

. It is known from a single skull found at

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generall ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Introduced predators such as foxes and domestic cats may have forced this species into extinction. The skull is identified as one of the ''

Notomys A hopping mouse is any of about ten different Australian native mice in the genus ''Notomys''. They are rodents, not marsupials, and their ancestors are thought to have arrived from Asia about 5 million years ago. All are brown or fawn, fading ...

'', the hopping mice, an Australian genus that has been subject to rapid declines in populations leading to local and species extinction. The skull is comparable to the species ''

Notomys mitchellii Mitchell's hopping mouse (''Notomys mitchellii'') also known as the pankot, is the largest extant member of the genus ''Notomys'', weighing between . ''N. mitchellii'' is a bipedal rodent with large back legs, similar to a jerboa or kangaroo rat. ...

'', still extant at southern coastal regions, although significant differences in the dentition distinguish this species. The provenance of the holotype was disputed after its description, although later authors reviews saw no reasonable foundation to this suggestion. The description as a new species was disputed in the early twentieth century, with proposals it be recognised as a large specimen of the Mitchell's hopping mouse. The situation was complicated by the discovery of subfossil remains at

Coonabarabran Coonabarabran is a town in Warrumbungle Shire that sits on the divide between the Central West and North West Slopes regions of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2016 census, the town had a population of 2,537, Material was copied from this s ...

that correspond to the species ''N. mitchelli'' (NE New South Wales), leaving three uncertain scenarios on the former range or speciation in the area. The description of the species was published by

Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for the first time. He was appoin ...

in 1922. His examination of 'jerboa-rats' (''Notomys'') at the British Museum, and in correspondence with Troughton at the Australian Museum, saw the publication of this species and the widespread ''

Notomys alexis The spinifex hopping mouse (''Notomys alexis''), also known as the tarkawara or tarrkawarra, occurs throughout the central and western Australian arid zones, occupying both spinifex-covered sand flats and stabilised sand dunes, and loamy mulga ...

'' associated with the spinifex vegetation of the arid central region. Thomas had noted the skull in his 1921 revision of ''Notomys'', but hesitated to assign it as a new species until he examined other material.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q199256 Notomys Extinct mammals of Australia Rodent extinctions since 1500 Mammals described in 1922 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas