Pinyon Mouse

About the Pinyon Mouse

The pinyon mouse (Peromyscus truei) is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is a species of the genus Peromyscus, a closely related group of New World mice often called "deermice". It is native to the southwestern United States and Baja California in Mexico. These medium-sized mice are often distinguished by their relatively large ears. The range of this species extends from southern Oregon and Wyoming in the north, and extends south to roughly the U.S.-Mexico border, with a disjunct population known as the Palo Duro mouse (P. t. comanche) that occupies an area in the vicinity of Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle.[3] This isolated population is a glacial relict: during the last glacial period, Rocky Mountain juniper grew in a continuous belt from the mountains of New Mexico across the caprock escarpment to the Texas Panhandle, allowing the species to occupy the region. As the climate warmed approximately 10,000 years ago, the junipers retreated westward, leaving a gap of roughly 120 kilometers of open grassland that isolated the Palo Duro population from the main range.Schmidly, David J. (1973). "Geographic variation and systematics of Peromyscus truei". Journal of Mammalogy. 54 (1): 1–10. Wikipedia →