The hispid pocket mouse (''Chaetodipus hispidus'') is a large

pocket mouse Perognathinae is a subfamily of rodents consisting of two genera of pocket mice. Most species live in complex burrows within the deserts and grasslands of western North America, They feed mostly on seeds and other plant parts, which they carr ...

native to the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

region of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. It is a member of the genus ''Chaetodipus''.

Distribution

The hispid pocket mouse occurs across the

from southern

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

to central

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 ...

, and west from the Missouri River to the foot of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. It is not found in far-eastern portions of the states

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

Description

This mouse is one of the largest pocket mice. Its

pelage Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily #Guard hair, guard hair on top and thick #Down hair, underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as ...

is bristley (''hispidus'' means "bristley"), yellowish with black hairs interspersed above. It has a distinct, buffy lateral line and white underparts.

Subspecies

There are four recognized subspecies: *''Chaetodipus hispidus hispidus'' Baird, 1858:421. Type locality "Charco Escondido (Tamaulipas), Mexico, (24 leagues W. of Matamoros.)" *''Chaetodipus hispidus paradoxus'' Merriam, 1889:24. Type locality "Trego County, Kansas." (''latirostris'' Rhodes, ''conditi'' Allen are synonyms.) *''Chaetodipus hispidus spilotus'' Merriam, 1889:25. Type locality "Gainesville, Cook (Cooke) County, Texas." (''maximus'' Elliot is a synonym). *''Chaetodipus hispidus zacatecae'' Osgood, 1900:45. Type locality "Valparaiso, Zacatecas, Mexico."

Behavior and habitat

Hispid pocket mice inhabit a variety of upland habitats, but are most abundant in areas with sandy soils and patches of bare ground. They are also found in areas with rocky, loamy soils. Hispid pocket mice are not found in rocky

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

, and seem to avoid sand dunes and

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks ar ...

zones. These mice prefer a vegetation mix of short- to mid-grasses, shrubs,

forbs A forb or phorb is an herbaceous flowering plant that is not a graminoid (grass, sedge, or rush). The term is used in biology and in vegetation ecology, especially in relation to grasslands and understory. Typically these are dicots without woo ...

cacti A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

and/or

yucca ''Yucca'' is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flo ...

. Essentially

granivores Seed predation, often referred to as granivory, is a type of plant-animal interaction in which granivores (seed predators) feed on the seeds of plants as a main or exclusive food source,Hulme, P.E. and Benkman, C.W. (2002) "Granivory", pp. 132 ...

, the diet of the hispid pocket mouse consists primarily of seeds it selectively gathers, though these mice do consume some insects and leaves. Burrows are always dug in

friable Friability ( ), the condition of being friable, describes the tendency of a solid substance to break into smaller pieces under duress or contact, especially by rubbing. The opposite of friable is indurate. Substances that are designated hazardous, ...

soil and have two to three entrances, often plugged. Unlike other pocket mice the hispid pocket mouse often leaves a conspicuous mound of earth about the burrow entrance (like the mounds of ''

pocket gopher Pocket gophers, commonly referred to simply as gophers, are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. The roughly 41 speciesSearch results for "Geomyidae" on thASM Mammal Diversity Database are all endemic to North and Central America. They are ...

s'', but significantly smaller). Hispid pocket mice are solitary.

Reproduction

Not much is known about the reproduction of this species. Adult males have been recorded with enlarged testes from March through October, and pregnant females have been trapped in July and August. The length of the breeding season suggests females can bear two or more litters a year.

References

*Bock, C. E. et al. 2002. Patterns of Rodent Abundance on Open-Space Grasslands in Relation to Suburban Edges. Conservation Biology 16:6, pp. 1653–1658 *Jones, J. N. et al. 1983. Mammals of the Northern Great Plains. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. *Jones, J. N., D. M. Armstrong, J. R. Choate. 1985. Guide to Mammals of the Plains States. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. *Jones, J. N., E. C. Brirney. 1988. Handbook of Mammals of the North-Central States. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. *Paulson, D. D. 1988. Chaetodipus hispidus. Mammalian Species No. 320, pp. 1–4 *Vander Wall, S. B. et al. Cheek pouch capacities and loading rates of heteromyid rodents.

Oecologia ''Oecologia'' is an international peer-reviewed English-language journal published by Springer since 1968 (some articles were published in German or French until 1976). The journal publishes original research in a range of topics related to plant ...

, Volume 113, Number 1 (December 1997), pp. 21–28 *Texas Tech University. The Mammals of Texas - Online Edition.Hispid Pocket Mouse (Chaetodipus hispidus)
/ref> Accessed on 2 April 2007. {{Taxonbar, from=Q167053 Chaetodipus Mammals of the United States Mammals described in 1858