Plains pocket mouse
Perognathus flavescens apache
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Heteromyidae
Genus: Perognathus
Species:
P. flavescens
Binomial name
Perognathus flavescens
Merriam, 1889

The plains pocket mouse (Perognathus flavescens) is a heteromyid rodent of North America.[2][3] It ranges from southwestern Minnesota and southeastern North Dakota to northern Texas east of the Rockies, and from northern Utah and Colorado to northern Chihuahua west of the Rockies.[1]

It has soft silky fur and grows to be 5 inches (13 cm) long, although nearly half of that is the tail.

They often live directly underneath Spanish bayonet or prickly pear plants. They are accustomed to sandy soil and eat mostly seeds, large and small grasses and small leaves of plants. Some food found in their cheek pouches are: seeds of needle grass (Stipa), bind weed, sandbur grass, a small bean (probably Astragalus), and sedge (Cyperus). Even those caught in grain fields usually have their pouches filled with weed seeds. Seeds of two species of pigeon grass, a few other grasses, and wild buckwheat have been found in their burrows.

Their breeding season is mainly July to August and the females tend to have 4 embryos at a time. Other information about this animal is scarce.

Media related to Perognathus flavescens at Wikimedia Commons

References

  1. ^ a b Linzey, A.V.; Timm, R.; Álvarez-Castañeda, S.T.; Castro-Arellano, I. & Lacher, T. (2008). "Perognathus flavescens". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
  2. ^ Monk, R. Richard, and J. Knox Jones. "Perognathus flavescens." Mammalian Species 525 (1996): 1-4.
  3. ^ Patton, J.L. (2005). "Family Heteromyidae". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 857. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.


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