Gambel's deermouse or Gambel's deer mouse (''Peromyscus gambelii'') is a species of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

in the family

Cricetidae The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, muskrats, and New World rats and mice. At almost 608 species, it is the second-largest family of mammals, and has m ...

. It is native to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Taxonomy

It was formerly considered a subspecies of the

western deer mouse The western deermouse or western deer mouse (''Peromyscus sonoriensis'') is a rodent native to North America. It is widespread throughout the western half of the continent, mainly in areas west of the Mississippi River. Taxonomy It was former ...

(''P. sonoriensis'') (then thought to represent western populations of the North American deer mouse, ''Peromyscus maniculatus'', now referred to as the eastern deer mouse) as ''P. m. gambelii''. However, taxonomic studies in 2017 found it to represent a distinct species from ''P. maniculatus'', and thus reclassified it as a distinct species, a change later also followed by the

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammals, and professions studying them. There are over 4,500 members of this society, and they are primarily professional scientists ...

. In addition, Baja California populations were formerly thought to represent a distinct subspecies ''P. m. coolidgei'', but taxonomic studies found it to be conspecific with ''P. gambelii''.

Distribution

The species ranges from southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

(south of the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

) in the

south to

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

. Many deermouse populations found on islands off Baja California's Pacific coast and the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

of California, which were formerly classified as subspecies of ''P. maniculatus'' likely belong to this species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q107404432 Peromyscus Rodents of North America Mammals of the United States Mammals of Mexico Mammals described in 1858 Taxa named by Spencer Fullerton Baird