The Taiwan field mouse, also called Formosan wood mouse (''Apodemus semotus''), 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

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 found only in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. The Taiwan field mouse is primarily distributed in the montane region between 1,400 and 3,000 m. They inhabit various habitat types, such as natural or planted forests, grasslands, farms, and campsites, and are omnivorous feeding on plants, insects and fungi. Based on morphological measurements, it has been suggested that the Taiwan field mouse is not different from the South China field mouse (''Apodemus draco''), and should not be considered as a separate species. The Taiwan field mouse is sexually dimorphic, with male generally larger than females (male: 25.6 ± 0.5 g; female: 23.8 ± 0.5 g). Mark-capture-recapture data suggest that their life span may be less than 1 year in the wild.

References

Rats of Asia Endemic fauna of Taiwan Mammals of Taiwan Apodemus Mammals described in 1908 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Apodemus-stub