| Mount Tapulao forest mouse | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Placentalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Genus: | Apomys |
| Species: | A. brownorum
|
| Binomial name | |
| Apomys brownorum | |
| |
The Mount Tapulao forest mouse (Apomys brownorum) is a forest mouse endemic to the Mount Tapulao area in the Philippines.1 It is named after the American zoologist Barbara Elaine Russell Brown.2
Anatomy and physiology
The mouse is the smallest species in its genus, measuring in total "230-255 mm; tail: 107-116 mm; hind foot: 31-35 mm; ear: 21 - 22 mm" and weighing 60-84 grams.3 On its dorsal side, the mouse has long, dense, soft, dark brown fur, with dark gray ventral fur turning a lighter gray-brown at the tips. Its tail is bicolored, "dark grayish-brown dorsally and nearly white ventrally."3
Ecology
The Mount Tapulaou forest mouse lives in old growth cloud forests and regenerating secondary forests at a height of 2024 m, with a lower limit somewhere between 1690 m and 2024 m. It is unknown how extensive chromium mining of the habitat affects the species.3
Behavior
The mouse eats seeds and invertebrates such as earthworms. It is nocturnal.3
References
References
- Heaney, L.R.; Balete, D.S.; Veluz, M.J.; Steppan, S.J.; Esseltyn, J.A.; Pfeiffer, A.W.; Rickart, E.A. (2014). "Two new species of Philippine forest mice (Apomys, Muridae, Rodentia) from Lubang and Luzon Islands, with a redescription of Apomys sacobianus Johnson, 1962". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 126 (4): 395–413. doi:10.2988/0006-324X-126.4.395. S2CID 49347286.
- Megan, Graydon (15 January 2019). "Barbara Brown, Field Museum research assistant on expeditions to far-flung locales, dies". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
- lheaney (2011-07-21). "Apomys brownorum". Field Museum. Retrieved 2019-11-09.