''Mus mayori'' is a species of rodent in the genus ''

Mus Mus or MUS may refer to: Abbreviations * MUS, the NATO country code for Mauritius * MUS, the IATA airport code for Minami Torishima Airport * MUS, abbreviation for the Centre for Modern Urban Studies on Campus The Hague, Leiden University, Neth ...

'', the mice. Its common names include Mayor's mouse, highland rat, and spiny mouse. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. This mouse lives in tropical and subtropical forest types and wet

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...

habitat. It is

fossorial A fossorial () animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, meerkats, and mole salamanders, as well as many beetles, wasps, and bees. Prehistoric eviden ...

, seeking shelter by digging burrows. It is

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

. This species is widespread in parts of Sri Lanka but it faces a number of threats, including

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

and

domestic cats 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 t ...

. There are two subspecies, ''M. m. mayori'' and ''M. m. pococki''. A recent study catalogued the parasites associated with subspecies ''pococki'': a

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

of genus ''

Echinolaelaps ''Echinolaelaps'' is a genus of mites in the family Laelapidae The Laelapidae are a family (biology), family of mites in the order Mesostigmata. The family is also referred to in the literature as Laelaptidae, which may be the correct spelling ...

'', a

tick Ticks (order Ixodida) are parasitic arachnids that are part of the mite superorder Parasitiformes. Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length depending on age, sex, species, and "fullness". Ticks are external parasites, living by ...

of genus '' Ixodes'', and the

sucking louse Sucking lice (Anoplura, formerly known as Siphunculata) have around 500 species and represent the smaller of the two traditional superfamilies of lice. As opposed to the paraphyletic chewing lice, which are now divided among three suborders, th ...

Polyplax spinulosa ''Polyplax spinulosa'' is a sucking louse (Anoplura) from the genus ''Polyplax''. It occurs worldwide and commonly infects its type host, the brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus''), and related species like the black rat (''Rattus rattus''), ''Rattus ...

''. A new species of

pseudoscorpion Pseudoscorpions, also known as false scorpions or book scorpions, are small, scorpion-like arachnids belonging to the order Pseudoscorpiones, also known as Pseudoscorpionida or Chelonethida. Pseudoscorpions are generally beneficial to humans sin ...

was found on the mouse, described, and named '' Megachernes kanneliyensis''. The mouse also carries the native Sri Lankan

flea Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about long, a ...

'' Stivalius phoberus''.Yathramullage, S., Meegaskumbura, M., and Meegaskumbura, S. (2014)
Record of five new endemic small mammal hosts for four ectoparasite species from Sri Lanka.
''Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology'' 17 473-476.

References

External links

*Wilson, D. E. & Reeder, D. M
''Mus'' (''Coelomys'') ''mayori''.
''Mammal Species of the World''. Third Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press. Mus (rodent) Rodents of Sri Lanka Endemic fauna of Sri Lanka Mammals described in 1915 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Mus-stub