Mus spicilegus

Abstract:

What or who is Mus spicilegus? Mus spicilegus, aka ‘the mound-building mouse’, is a rather nondescript, brown mouse that looks just like its close relative, the commensal house mouse (Mus musculus). In fact, they look so much like house mice that the first individuals described in 1840 from a garden in Odessa probably were house mice. Its epithet ‘spicilegus’ is derived from the Latin, spica meaning a spike of grain, and legere, to collect, which makes sense, since these mice do in fact gather grains.