Salvin's Spiny Pocket Mouse

About the Salvin's Spiny Pocket Mouse

Salvin's spiny pocket mouse (Heteromys salvini) is a small to medium-sized rodent in the family Heteromyidae. It was formerly placed in the genus Liomys, which is now recognized to be paraphyletic and has been subsumed into Heteromys.

Like other pocket mice, it has external, fur-lined pouches in its cheeks for carrying seeds and other materials. Although the darkness of the fur can vary quite a bit geographically, it is always grey or grey-brown dorsally with cream-colored underparts, forelegs, and feet. The darker dorsal fur is meshed with dark spiny hairs and lighter, cream-colored hairs. The tail is approximately equal to the body length, bi-color, and nearly hairless (although it may have a short terminal hair cluster). In regions of overlap, H. salvini can be distinguished from other species by the lack of orange side stripes and a lack of dark forelimbs.

Head and body length: 103–140 mm (4.1–5.5 in) Tail length: 97–144 mm (3.8–5.7 in) Hind foot length: 26–30 mm (1.0–1.2 in) Ear length: 12–16 mm (0.47–0.63 in) It occupies much of the Pacific coast and adjacent mountains of Central America (from Costa Rica to Guatemala... Wikipedia →