St Kilda Field Mouse
Encyclopedia
The St Kilda Field Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus hirtensis) is a subspecies
of wood mouse
endemic to the Scottish
isles of St Kilda
. It is generally twice as heavy as mainland field mice and has longer hair and a longer tail. It is mostly grey in colour and, though hard to find, very common.
It is not to be confused with the St Kilda House Mouse
, which is now extinct.
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
of wood mouse
Wood mouse
The wood mouse is a common murid rodent from Europe and northwestern Africa. It is closely related to the yellow-necked mouse but differs in that it has no band of yellow fur around the neck, has slightly smaller ears, and is usually slightly smaller overall: around 90 mm in length...
endemic to the Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
isles of St Kilda
St Kilda, Scotland
St Kilda is an isolated archipelago west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The largest island is Hirta, whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom and three other islands , were also used for...
. It is generally twice as heavy as mainland field mice and has longer hair and a longer tail. It is mostly grey in colour and, though hard to find, very common.
It is not to be confused with the St Kilda House Mouse
St Kilda House Mouse
The St Kilda House Mouse was a subspecies of the house mouse found only on the islands of the St Kilda archipelago of northwest Scotland....
, which is now extinct.