A hopping mouse is any of about ten different
Australian native mice in the genus ''Notomys''. They are
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 n ...
s, not
marsupial
Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a ...
s, and their ancestors are thought to have arrived from
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
about 5 million years ago.
All are brown or fawn, fading to pale grey or white underneath, have very long tails and, as the common name implies, well-developed hind legs. Half of the hopping mouse species have become extinct since European colonisation. The primary cause is probably predation from introduced
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'').
Twelve sp ...
es or
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, coupled with competition for food from introduced
rabbits and hoofed mammals. A hopping mouse's primary diet is seeds. An Australian hopping mouse can concentrate urine to as high as 10,000 m
Osm/L
Osmotic concentration, formerly known as osmolarity, is the measure of solute concentration, defined as the number of osmoles (Osm) of solute per litre (L) of solution (osmol/L or Osm/L). The osmolarity of a solution is usually expressed as Osm/L ...
(10-20 times higher than a human). This allows it to survive in the desert without drinking water.
Species
* The
spinifex hopping mouse
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 ...
(''Notomys alexis'') occurs throughout the central and western Australian arid zones, occupying both spinifex-covered sand flats and stabilised sand dunes, and loamy mulga and melaleuca flats.
* The extinct
short-tailed hopping mouse
The short-tailed hopping mouse (''Notomys amplus'') is an extinct species of mouse from open stony (gibber) plains with desert grasses, low shrubs and sand ridges in the area around Charlotte Waters, near Alice Springs in Central Australia. It w ...
(''Notomys amplus'') was the largest species at around 100 g.
* The
northern hopping mouse
The northern hopping mouse (''Notomys aquilo'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in coastal northern Australia, from Arnhem Land to the Cobourg Peninsula.
This mouse weighs 25 to 30 grams and is brown above and whi ...
(''Notomys aquilo'') is found only in coastal northern Australia, from Arnhem Land to the Cobourg Peninsula.
* The
fawn hopping mouse
The fawn hopping mouse (''Notomys cervinus'') is a rodent native to the central Australian desert. Like all hopping mice it has strong front teeth, a long tail, dark eyes, big ears, well-developed haunches and very long, narrow hind feet. It weigh ...
(''Notomys cervinus'') is found on the sparsely vegetated arid
gibber plain
A desert pavement, also called reg (in the western Sahara), serir (eastern Sahara), gibber (in Australia), or saï (central Asia) is a desert surface covered with closely packed, interlocking angular or rounded rock fragments of pebble and cob ...
s and claypans of the
Lake Eyre Basin
The Lake Eyre basin ( ) is a drainage basin that covers just under one-sixth of all Australia. It is the largest endorheic basin in Australia and amongst the largest in the world, covering about , including much of inland Queensland, large porti ...
. Small at around 30 to 50 g, and light in colour, it is gregarious and feeds at night on seeds, insects, and green shoots, not needing to drink water. It is classed as near threatened.
* Some small
dusky hopping mouse The dusky hopping mouse (''Notomys fuscus''), is a small rodent endemic to Australia, inhabiting desert regions characterised by sand dunes. Populations have experienced significant declines since the arrival of Europeans, and continue to be subject ...
(''Notomys fuscus'') populations retain a slender hold on existence in the
Strzelecki Desert
The Strzelecki Desert is located in the Far North Region of South Australia, South West Queensland and western New South Wales. It is positioned in the northeast of the Lake Eyre Basin, and north of the Flinders Ranges. Two other deserts occup ...
. They feed, mostly on seeds, at night and shelter in deep vertical burrows.
* The
long-tailed hopping mouse
The long-tailed hopping mouse (''Notomys longicaudatus'') is an extinct species of rodent in the family Muridae. It was found only in Australia. It is known from a handful of specimens, the last of which was collected in 1901 or possibly 1902. It ...
(''Notomys longicaudatus'') is an extinct species, which was widespread in the drier regions of southern and central Australia. It dug burrows in stiff, clay soils. It liked raisins, but was not a pest to the stores of settlers. Only a handful of specimens were collected and the last record dates from 1901, although skull fragments were found in an owl pellet in 1977.
*The extinct
big-eared hopping mouse
The big-eared hopping mouse (''Notomys macrotis'') is an extinct species of mouse, which lived in the Moore River area of south-western Australia. The big-eared hopping mouse was a small, rat-sized animal resembling a tiny kangaroo. It had large ...
(''Notomys macrotis'') lived in the Moore River area of south-western Australia. The last record dates from 19 July 1843.
*
Mitchell's hopping mouse (''Notomys mitchellii'') is the largest extant member of the genus. It occurs throughout much of semi-arid Southern Australia and is currently considered to be unthreatened, although its range has been reduced through habitat disturbance and destruction.
* The
Darling Downs hopping mouse (''Notomys mordax'') is almost certainly extinct and is known only from a single skull collected somewhere on the
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 general ...
of south-east
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
, establishe ...
in the 1840s, apparently from a creature similar to Mitchell's hopping-mouse. The introduction of cattle to the Darling Downs has greatly changed the ecology of the region, and seen several other species exterminated or seriously threatened. (See
Paradise parrot and
Northern hairy-nosed wombat
The northern hairy-nosed wombat (''Lasiorhinus krefftii'') or yaminon is one of three extant species of Australian marsupials known as wombats. It is one of the rarest land mammals in the world and is critically endangered. Its historical rang ...
.)
* The
great hopping mouse (''Notomys robustus'' Mahoney, Smith and Medlin 2008) is extinct. It is known only from skulls found in owl pellets in the
Flinders Ranges
The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna.
The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabit ...
. Some pellets also include bones of the introduced
house mouse—indicating that it survived into historic times, possibly the second half of the 19th century. From the skull, it appears to have been relatively large (perhaps the size of ''N. amplus'' or a little more) and to have escaped collection by early 19th century naturalists by chance. From the location of the deposits it is assumed that it preferred clay rather than sandy soils. It is notable that very few of the clay-living hopping mice have survived European settlement, sand dunes apparently providing a more secure refuge from competitors and predators. Also commonly known as the ''broad-cheeked hopping-mouse''.
See also
*
Jerboa
Jerboas (from ar, جربوع ') are hopping desert rodents found throughout North Africa and Asia, and are members of the family Dipodidae. They tend to live in hot deserts.
When chased, jerboas can run at up to . Some species are preyed on b ...
- a similar
dipodid
Jerboas (from ar, جربوع ') are hopping desert rodents found throughout North Africa and Asia, and are members of the family Dipodidae. They tend to live in hot deserts.
When chased, jerboas can run at up to . Some species are preyed on b ...
rodent native to northern Africa and Asia; an example of
parallel evolution
Parallel evolution is the similar development of a trait in distinct species that are not closely related, but share a similar original trait in response to similar evolutionary pressure.Zhang, J. and Kumar, S. 1997Detection of convergent and paral ...
*
Jumping mouse
Zapodidae, the jumping mice, is a family of mouse-like rodents in North America and China.
Although mouse-like in general appearance, these rodents are distinguished by their elongated hind limbs, and, typically, by the presence of four pairs ...
- a non-desert-dwelling
dipodid
Jerboas (from ar, جربوع ') are hopping desert rodents found throughout North Africa and Asia, and are members of the family Dipodidae. They tend to live in hot deserts.
When chased, jerboas can run at up to . Some species are preyed on b ...
rodent native to China and North America
*
Kangaroo mouse
A kangaroo mouse is either one of the two species of jumping mouse (genus ''Microdipodops'') native to the deserts of the southwestern United States, predominantly found in the state of Nevada. The name "kangaroo mouse" refers to the species' ext ...
and
kangaroo rat
Kangaroo rats, small mostly nocturnal rodents of genus ''Dipodomys'', are native to arid areas of western North America. The common name derives from their bipedal form. They hop in a manner similar to the much larger kangaroo, but developed t ...
- similar
heteromyid rodents of North America
*
Kultarr
The kultarr (''Antechinomys laniger'') (also called the "jerboa-marsupial" or marsupial jerboa) is a small insectivorous nocturnal marsupial inhabiting the arid interior of Australia. Preferred habitat includes stony deserts, shrubland, woodland ...
- an unrelated
marsupial
Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a ...
with a similar body plan and coloration; an example of
convergence
Convergence may refer to:
Arts and media Literature
*''Convergence'' (book series), edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen
*Convergence (comics), "Convergence" (comics), two separate story lines published by DC Comics:
**A four-part crossover storyline that ...
*
Springhare
''Pedetes'' is a genus of rodent, the springhares, in the family Pedetidae. Members of the genus are distributed across southern and Eastern Africa.
Species
A number of species both extant and extinct are classified in the genus ''Pedetes''. ...
- a similar
pedetid
The Pedetidae are a family of mammals from the rodent order. The two living species, the springhares, are distributed throughout much of southern Africa and also around Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Fossils have been found as far north as Turkey.M ...
rodent native to southern and eastern Africa
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
*
*
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q782974
*
Taxa named by René Lesson