Western deer mouse
The western deermouse or western deer mouse is a rodent native to North America. It is a species of the genus Peromyscus, a closely related group of New World mice often called "deermice". It is widespread throughout the western half of the continent, mainly in areas west of the Mississippi River.
Taxonomy
It was formerly confused with the eastern deermouse, with both species being grouped under P. maniculatus as the North American deermouse. However, due to the significant morphological variation in the species, there was always long-standing confusion over the actual taxonomy of P. maniculatus. A 2019 study found significant genetic divergence within the species and split it into two, with maniculatus representing the "eastern" group and sonoriensis representing the "western" group.Description
P. sonoriensis is a short-tailed deermouse with a distinctive white underside and white feet. Their coat color ranges from fulvous to brownish. They can be mistaken for the eastern deer mouse, which is indistinguishable except by range, or for the white-footed mouse, which has a tail with indistinct bicoloring. Their range splits with the eastern deer mouse along the Mississippi River. They weigh between 15–32 grams and are usually around 170 millimeters long.Distribution and habitat
Peromyscus sonoriensis is an abundant species in areas of North America west of the Mississippi River. They are populous in the western mountains and live in wooded areas and areas that were previously wooded. Deer mice inhabit a wide variety of plant communities including grasslands, brushy areas, woodlands, and forests. In a survey of small mammals on 29 sites in subalpine forests in Colorado and Wyoming, the deer mouse had the highest frequency of occurrence; however, it was not always the most abundant small mammal. Deer mice were trapped in four of six forest communities in eastern Washington and northern Idaho, and they were the only rodent in ponderosa pine savanna.Although found throughout most of western North America, it is absent from parts of the Southwestern United States and most of Mexico, where it is instead replaced with the similar southern deer mouse, cactus mouse, and black-eared mouse ; Baja California and most of California south of San Francisco Bay, where it is replaced by Gambel's deer mouse ; and the coastal region of the Pacific Northwest from Washington northwards, where it is replaced by the northwestern deer mouse, and Yukon in Canada, where it is replaced by the Yukon deer mouse.