Southern deer mouse

The southern deermouse or southern deer mouse 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 found in the United States and Mexico.

Taxonomy

The species was originally thought to be conspecific with the North American deermouse, P. maniculatus, as P. m. labecula, P. m. blandus, and P. m. fulvus. However, later studies found these subspecies together comprise a distinct species from P. maniculatus, and they were split from maniculatus in a study published in 2019 as P. labecula, which was followed by the American Society of Mammalogists.

Distribution

This species is distributed from the Southwestern United States south to southern Mexico, in the state of Oaxaca. In the southern portion of its range, it is sympatric with the similar black-eared mouse.