Mice of the genus Mus in the Crimea: species diagnostics, distribution, and ecology

The paper presents the first detailed summary of the current state of mice of the genus Mus in the Crimea, namely of the house mouse (Mus musculus Linnaeus, 1758) and steppe mouse (Mus spicilegus Petenyi, 1882). Morphological structures of the house mouse and steppe mouse are characterized and external and craniometrical features important for species diagnostics are presented. Most of the morphological characters tend to vary within the entire geographic range of both species. Body length of house mice is significantly greater compared to that of steppe mice. Tail length in house mice is greater than in steppe mice, but the tail index is greater in the latter. Therefore, house mice look more ‘short-tailed’, and this feature can be used as an additional diagnostic character. In steppe mice, the tail becomes thinner gradually from base to tip and thus it is awl-shaped. The tail of fit house mice, especially of autumn-winter generations, often has a thickened base, which increases the visual effect of a short tail. Among internal characters, the most significant are the differences between testicles size of mature males. For species diagnostics of mice of the genus Mus, the size and shape of the following cranial structures can be used: location of the root and frontal wall of the crown of the first upper molar (M1) in relation to the diastema; zygomatic process of the maxilla and zygomatic arch; palatine foramens foramina palatinum, and others. These are reliable characters for morphological identification of M. musculus and M. spicilegus in the territory of the Crimea, in the zone of their sympatry. Reliable diagnostic characters are the dimensions of palatine foramens. In general, the entire complex of characters analysed in this study should be used for correct morphological diagnostics of these species. Features of distribution and population dynamics of the house mouse and steppe mouse in the Crimea are studied. It has been revealed that both the house mouse and the steppe mouse are distributed mainly in the lowland part of the Crimea and the forest-steppe belt of the foothills. Data on the ecology of species are presented, including specifics of reproduction and habitat preferences. The place and role of house mice in small-mammal assemblages of various landscape and ecological zones are estimated.

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Planigales (Marsupialia : Dasyuridae) of eastern Australia's interior: a comparison of morphology, distributions and habitat preferences, with particular emphasis on South Australia

Australian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1071/zo08057 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 56 (3) ◽

pp. 195 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Mark J. Blacket ◽

Catherine Kemper ◽

Robert Brandle

Keyword(s):

Species Identification ◽

Habitat Preferences ◽

South Australia ◽

Tail Length ◽

Character Displacement ◽

Morphological Characters ◽

Molecular Evidence ◽

Dental Morphology ◽

Ecological Requirements ◽

Ecological Habitat

Correct species identification is an essential step in characterising an organism’s geographic range and ecological requirements. In this study the morphology, distribution and habitat preferences of eastern Australia’s three species of inland planigales, Planigale ingrami, P. tenuirostris and P. gilesi, were compared, particularly to establish consistent differences between the morphologically similar Planigale ingrami and P. tenuirostris, which earlier molecular evidence had suggested were easily misidentified. Specimens that had previously been characterised genetically were examined to find diagnostic morphological characters for each species. External measurements indicated that P. tenuirostris was larger than P. ingrami, but size ranges overlap considerably. Several external characters, including basal width of the supratragus and foot morphology, differentiate each species; however tail length was not a reliable distinguishing character. Bivariate plots of several skull characters also enabled species identification. Competition within each species may be reduced by sexual dimorphism in dental morphology, while differences in skull shape may indicate past character displacement between Planigale species. In South Australia P. ingrami and P. tenuirostris are broadly sympatric with P. gilesi but not with each other. There appears to be ecological habitat separation between all three species, with P. ingrami being the most restricted in distribution and habitat requirements, P. gilesi occurring in similar habitats but in a wider range of vegetation communities, and P. tenuirostris being the least tied to flood-prone habitats.

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Insights into mammalian biology from the wild house mouse Mus musculus

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.05959 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

Cited By ~ 45

Author(s):

Megan Phifer-Rixey ◽

Michael W Nachman

Keyword(s):

House Mouse ◽

Mus Musculus ◽

Genetic Model ◽

Inbred Strains ◽

Mendelian Inheritance ◽

Model Organisms ◽

House Mice ◽

Small Subset ◽

Wild Mice ◽

Wide Range

The house mouse, Mus musculus, was established in the early 1900s as one of the first genetic model organisms owing to its short generation time, comparatively large litters, ease of husbandry, and visible phenotypic variants. For these reasons and because they are mammals, house mice are well suited to serve as models for human phenotypes and disease. House mice in the wild consist of at least three distinct subspecies and harbor extensive genetic and phenotypic variation both within and between these subspecies. Wild mice have been used to study a wide range of biological processes, including immunity, cancer, male sterility, adaptive evolution, and non-Mendelian inheritance. Despite the extensive variation that exists among wild mice, classical laboratory strains are derived from a limited set of founders and thus contain only a small subset of this variation. Continued efforts to study wild house mice and to create new inbred strains from wild populations have the potential to strengthen house mice as a model system.

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Steinernema borjomiense n. sp. (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae), a new entomopathogenic nematode from Georgia

Nematology ◽

10.1163/15685411-00003167 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 20 (7) ◽

pp. 653-669 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Oleg Gorgadze ◽

Elena Fanelli ◽

Manana Lortkhipanidze ◽

Alberto Troccoli ◽

Medea Burjanadze ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

18S Rrna ◽

Entomopathogenic Nematode ◽

Phylogenetic Analyses ◽

Tail Length ◽

Morphological Characters ◽

18S Rrna Gene ◽

The Body ◽

Rrna Gene ◽

A New Species

Summary A new species of entomopathogenic nematode, Steinernema borjomiense n. sp., was isolated from the body of the host insect, Oryctes nasicornis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), in Georgia, in the territory of Borjomi-Kharagauli. Morphological characters indicate that the new species is closely related to species of the feltiae-group. The infective juveniles are characterised by the following morphological characters: body length of 879 (777-989) μm, distance between the head and excretory pore = 72 (62-80) μm, pharynx length = 132 (122-142) μm, tail length = 70 (60-80) μm, ratio a = 26.3 (23.0-29.3), H% = 45 (40-51), D% = 54 (47-59), E% = 102 (95-115), and lateral fields consisting of seven ridges (eight incisures) at mid-body. Steinernema borjomiense n. sp. was molecularly characterised by sequencing three ribosomal regions (the ITS, the D2-D3 expansion domains and the 18S rRNA gene) and the mitochondrial COI gene. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that S. borjomiense n. sp. differs from all other known species of Steinernema and is a member of the monticolum-group.

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Morphological and molecular characterization of adult worms of Leucochloridium paradoxum Carus, 1835 and L. perturbatum Pojmańska, 1969 (Digenea: Leucochloridiidae) from the great tit, Parus major L., 1758 and similarity with the sporocyst stages

Journal of Helminthology ◽

10.1017/s0022149x13000291 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 88 (4) ◽

pp. 506-510 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

I. Rząd ◽

P. Hofsoe ◽

R. Panicz ◽

J.K. Nowakowski

Keyword(s):

Parus Major ◽

Morphological Characters ◽

Great Tit ◽

Molecular Techniques ◽

Morphological Identification ◽

The Baltic Sea ◽

The Baltic ◽

Morphological And Molecular Characterization ◽

Sea Coast

AbstractUnlike the sporocyst stages, adult leucochloridiid digeneans are difficult to differentiate. Sporocyst broodsacs can be identified on the basis of their colour and banding pattern, but in the absence of broodsacs and when experimental infection cannot be performed, tentative morphological identification needs to be verified, and molecular techniques offer a tool to do this. In this study, adult leucochloridiid digeneans were collected from the great tit (Parus major) found dead at three localities at or near the Baltic Sea coast (Hel, Bukowo-Kopań and Szczecin) in northern Poland. On the basis of differences in their morphological characters, Hel specimens were tentatively assigned to Leucochloridium perturbatum, Bukowo-Kopań and Szczecin specimens being identified tentatively as L. paradoxum. Subsequent ribosomal DNA sequence analysis confirmed the identification of these leucochloridiid flukes. Nucleotide sequences discriminating between the two species were identical to those used by earlier authors as characteristic of two distinctly different sporocyst broodsacs representing L. perturbatum and L. paradoxum.

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Host subspecific viral strains in European house mice: Murine cytomegalovirus in the Eastern (Mus musculus musculus) and Western house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus)

Virology ◽

10.1016/j.virol.2018.05.023 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 521 ◽

pp. 92-98 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Dagmar Čížková ◽

Stuart J.E. Baird ◽

Jana Těšíková ◽

Sebastian Voigt ◽

Ďureje Ľudovít ◽

...

Keyword(s):

House Mouse ◽

Mus Musculus ◽

Murine Cytomegalovirus ◽

House Mice ◽

Mus Musculus Domesticus ◽

Mus Musculus Musculus

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“A herder’s duty is to think”: landscape partitioning and folk habitats of Mongolian herders in a mountain forest steppe (Khuvsugul-Murun region)

Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine ◽

10.1186/s13002-019-0328-x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

B. Gantuya ◽

Á. Avar ◽

D. Babai ◽

Á. Molnár ◽

Zs Molnár

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Northern Hemisphere ◽

Habitat Preferences ◽

Mountain Forest ◽

Forest Steppe ◽

Ecological Knowledge ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Habitat Classification ◽

Macro Scale ◽

Conducting Research

Abstract Background Traditional habitat knowledge, like the classification of folk habitats and how people partition their landscape into habitats, is an emerging but still understudied part of traditional ecological knowledge. Our objectives were to reconstruct the folk habitats and the partitioning of the landscape into these folk habitats by Mongolian herders in Northern Mongolia and to compare it with other Northern Hemisphere boreal-temperate classifications. Methods The study area is located in Seruun Gilad (Khuvsugul province) and belongs to the mountain forest steppe of the Khangai region (dominated by meadow steppes and larch forests). Most herder families use the area for summer pasturing. Data collection was based on indoor and outdoor, structured and semi-structured interviews and interviews during landscape walks and participatory fieldwork. We interviewed 20 people using 76+ photos of plant species and 25+ photos of habitats and asked them to name and describe the habitats and describe the habitat preferences of the species. Results Mongolian herders distinguished at least 88 folk habitat categories and knew well the habitat preferences of the 76 plant species. They argued that a herder has to be observant of nature. The habitat classification was moderately lexicalized, with many descriptive expressions. Most habitats (77%) belonged to the meso-scale, while macro-scale habitats (like taiga, Gobi) and micro-scale habitats (like marmot burrow, top of the tussock) were few. Habitat names did not reflect directly the usefulness of the habitat. Classification was multidimensional; key dimensions were geomorphological and edaphic. There were some species (e.g., botyuul, hyag, shireg) and species groups (hot plants, leafy plants) that were often used to describe habitat types. Conclusions Landscape partitionings in the Northern Hemisphere differed considerably in the importance of various dimensions used, with edaphic, geomorphological, hydrological, and dominant species-based dimensions having higher importance, while land use, successional, and zoological dimensions having lower importance. We argue that conducting research on folk habitats will contribute to a deeper understanding of how nature is perceived by locals and to a more efficient management of the Mongolian pastures.

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Morphotaxonomic revision of Simulium (Gomphostilbia) (Diptera: Simuliidae) in the Oriental Region

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.3577.1.1 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 3577 (1) ◽

pp. 1 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

HIROYUKI TAKAOKA

Keyword(s):

Geographical Distribution ◽

Classification Scheme ◽

Cladistic Analysis ◽

Morphological Characters ◽

Species Group ◽

Morphological Identification ◽

Oriental Region ◽

Preliminary Attempt ◽

The Third ◽

Species Groups

Simulium (Gomphostilbia) Enderlein, the third largest (206 named species included) in the genus Simulium Latreille s. l., is one of the two most abundant and diverse subgenera in the Oriental Region. To provide a classification scheme to facilitate morphological identification of the species within this subgenus, its diagnostic characters are redefined, and nine known species-groups within it are reviewed. Based on putative lineages explored by using certain adult morphological characters, seven more species-groups are proposed: asakoae, darjeelingense, epistum, gombakense, heldsbachense, hemicyclium and palauense species-groups, while the trirugosum species-group is merged in the varicorne species-group. Subgroups are also introduced to represent apparently different lineages within certain species-groups based on certain pupal morphological characters: two in the banauense species-group, seven in the batoense species-group redefined, four in the ceylonicum species-group redefined, four in the epistum species-group, two in the hemicyclium species-group, two in the sherwoodi species-group and four in the varicorne species-group redefined. A new checklist of species of the subgenus Gomphostilbia, and a key to all 15 species-groups within it are provided. The eastward expansion of the geographical distribution of the subgenus Gomphostilbia is inferred on the basis of the more frequent occurrence of apomorphic characters of certain adult and pupal morphological features in insular species-groups than in continental species-groups. A preliminary attempt using a cladistic analysis of morphological characters shows that among 10 subgenera examined, Gomphostilbia has a sister-taxon relationship with the Australasian subgenus Morops Enderlein, and this clade, together with the Central-Western Pacific subgenus Inseliellum Rubtsov, is positioned closest to the most derived clade formed by Daviesellum Takaoka & Adler and Simulium Latreille s. str.

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A survey of zoonotic pathogens carried by house mouse and black rat populations in Yucatan, Mexico

Epidemiology and Infection ◽

10.1017/s0950268817001352 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 145 (11) ◽

pp. 2287-2295 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

J. A. PANTI-MAY ◽

R. R. C. DE ANDRADE ◽

Y. GURUBEL-GONZÁLEZ ◽

E. PALOMO-ARJONA ◽

L. SODÁ-TAMAYO ◽

...

Keyword(s):

House Mouse ◽

Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽

Rat Kidney ◽

Rattus Rattus ◽

Hymenolepis Diminuta ◽

House Mice ◽

Residential Areas ◽

Zoonotic Pathogens ◽

Black Rat ◽

Black Rats

SUMMARYThe house mouse (Mus musculus) and the black rat (Rattus rattus) are reservoir hosts for zoonotic pathogens, several of which cause neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Studies of the prevalence of these NTD-causing zoonotic pathogens, in house mice and black rats from tropical residential areas are scarce. Three hundred and two house mice and 161 black rats were trapped in 2013 from two urban neighbourhoods and a rural village in Yucatan, Mexico, and subsequently tested forTrypanosoma cruzi,Hymenolepis diminutaandLeptospira interrogans. Using the polymerase chain reaction we detectedT. cruziDNA in the hearts of 4·9% (8/165) and 6·2% (7/113) of house mice and black rats, respectively. We applied the sedimentation technique to detect eggs ofH. diminutain 0·5% (1/182) and 14·2% (15/106) of house mice and black rats, respectively. Through the immunofluorescent imprint method,L. interroganswas identified in 0·9% (1/106) of rat kidney impressions. Our results suggest that the black rat could be an important reservoir forT. cruziandH. diminutain the studied sites. Further studies examining seasonal and geographical patterns could increase our knowledge on the epidemiology of these pathogens in Mexico and the risk to public health posed by rodents.

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A new entomopathogenic nematode, Steinernema xinbinense n. sp. (Nematoda: Steinernematidae), from north China

Nematology ◽

10.1163/156854112x627273 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 14 (6) ◽

pp. 723-739 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Juan Ma ◽

Shulong Chen ◽

Juan Ma ◽

Shulong Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Dna Sequences ◽

First Generation ◽

Galleria Mellonella ◽

Entomopathogenic Nematode ◽

Tail Length ◽

Northern China ◽

Morphological Characters ◽

Liaoning Province ◽

Lateral Field

During a survey for entomopathogenic nematodes in northern China, a new species of Steinernema was isolated from soil samples collected from Xinbin county, Liaoning province. This nematode was obtained by the insect-baiting technique using last instar larvae of Galleria mellonella. It is described herein as S. xinbinense n. sp. The nematode can be separated from other described species of the group by morphological and morphometric characteristics of the different stages and by characterisation and phylogeny of DNA sequences of the D2D3 domain of the LSU or ITS regions of rDNA. This new species is characterised by the following morphological characters: infective third-stage juvenile with a body length of 694 (635-744) μm, distance from head to excretory pore of 51 (46-53) μm, tail length of 73 (61-81) μm, E = 71 (65-78)%, presence of eight unevenly spaced and developed ridges in middle lateral field (i.e., nine lines). First generation male with well curved, yellowish spicules 56 (49-62) μm long and gubernaculum 35 (30-41) μm long, small mucron mostly present, first generation female with protruding vulva, tail conical with one or two small mucrons and D = 45 (41-50)%. Cross hybridisation tests with S. tielingense, S. kraussei, S. feltiae and S. hebeiense showed that this species was reproductively isolated. The analyses of ITS-rDNA and D2D3 sequence confirm that the studied nematode isolate is a valid new species belonging to the ‘feltiae-kraussei-oregonense’ group.

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Steinernema citrae n. sp. (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae), a new entomopathogenic nematode from South Africa

Nematology ◽

10.1163/138855410x535714 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 569-587 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Nomakholwa F. Stokwe ◽

Antoinette P. Malan ◽

Khuong B. Nguyen ◽

Rinus Knoetze ◽

Louwrens Tiedt

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

New Species ◽

Body Length ◽

Entomopathogenic Nematode ◽

Tail Length ◽

Morphological Characters ◽

The Body ◽

Infective Juvenile ◽

Western Cape ◽

Citrus Orchards

Abstract During a survey for entomopathogenic nematodes in citrus orchards throughout South Africa, a new species of Steinernema was isolated from a citrus orchard on Rietkloof farm, near the town of Piketberg in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. The nematode was isolated from soil using the Galleria-baiting technique. Steinernema citrae n. sp. is characterised by the following morphological characters: third-stage infective juvenile with a body length of 754 (623-849) μm, distance from head to excretory pore of 56 (49-64) μm, tail length of 71 (63-81) μm, and ratio E value of 110 (85-132). The lateral pattern for the new species is 2, 7, 8, 6, 4, 2 and is not typical for the genus. Steinernema citrae n. sp. is closely related the feltiae-group. The body length of the IJ is close to that of S. texanum and S. weiseri, though it differs in body diam., the length of the pharynx and E%. The male of S. citrae n. sp. differs from S. feltiae in the length and shape of the spicule and body diam. Steinernema citrae n. sp. differs from all species in the feltiae-group in the morphology of the vulva, as it has a single flapped, low, epiptygma. It also differs from the most closely related species, S. feltiae, as there is no interbreeding between the two species. In addition, the new nematode differs from other species of the feltiae-group by characteristics of the ITS and D2D3 regions of its rDNA.

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