Species Mus musculus Linnaeus, 1758
House Mouse
Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy
- Musser, G.G. & Carleton, M.D. 1993. Family Muridae. pp. 501-756 in Wilson, D.E. & Reeder, D-A. M. (eds). Mammal species of the world: A taxonomic and geographic reference. Second Edition. Washington : Smithsonian Institute 1206 pp. (for extralimital synonyms)
Distribution
States
Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia
Extra Distribution Information
Cosmopolitan.
Introduced from various regions.
IBRA
ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)
Ecological Descriptors
Crop, granivore, peridomestic, subtropical, terrestrial.
Extra Ecological Information
Found in disturbed habitats.
General References
Baverstock, P.R., Watts, C.H.S., Adams, M. & Cole, S.R. 1981. Genetical relationships among Australian rodents (Muridae). Australian Journal of Zoology 29: 289-303
Bomford, M. 1987. Food and reproduction of wild house mice I. Diet and breeding seasons in various habitats on irrigated cereal farms in New South Wales. Australian Wildlife Research 14: 183-196
Bomford, M. 1987. Food and reproduction of wild house mice II. A field experiment to examine the effect of food availability and food quality on breeding in spring. Australian Wildlife Research 14: 197-206
Bomford, M. 1987. Food and reproduction of wild house mice III. Experiments on the breeding performance of caged house mice fed rice based diets. Australian Wildlife Research 14: 207-218
Bomford, M. & Redhead, T. 1987. A field experiment to examine the effects of food quality and population density on reproduction of wild house mice. Oikos 48: 304-311
Boonstra, R. & Redhead, T.D. 1994. Population dynamics of an outbreak population of house mice (Mus domesticus) in the irrigated rice-growing area of Australia. Wildlife Research 21: 583-598
Boursot, P., Auffray, J.-C., Britton-Davidian, J. & Bonhomme, F. 1993. The evolution of the house mouse. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 24: 119-152
Brown, P.R., Davies, M.J., Croft, J.D. & Singleton, G.R. 2004. Can farm-management practices reduce the impact of house mouse populations on crops in an irrigated farming system? Wildlife Research 31: 597-604
Brown, P.R., Singleton, G.R., Kearns, B. & Griffiths, J. 1997. Evaluation and cost effectiveness of strychnine for control of populations of wild house mice (Mus domesticus) in Victoria. Wildlife Research 24: 159-172
Campbell, A. 1907. Mus musculus var. M. nudo-plicatus. The Zoologist 4 4: 1-3 pl. 1
Chambers, L.K., Singleton, G.R. & van Wensveen, M. 1996. Spatial heterogeneity in wild populations of house mice (Mus domesticus) on the Darling Downs, south-eastern Queensland. Wildlife Research 23: 23-38
Chapman, A. 1981. Habitat preference and reproduction of feral house mice, Mus musculus, during plague and non-plague situations in Western Australia. Australian Wildlife Research 8: 567-579
Claridge, A.W. & May, T.W. 1994. Mycophagy among Australian mammals. Australian Journal of Ecology 19: 251-275
Cockburn, A. 1980. The diet of the New Holland Mouse (Pseudomys novaehollandiae) and the House Mouse (Mus musculus) in a Victorian coastal heathland. Australian Mammalogy 3: 31-34
Cooper, N.K. 1993. Identification of Pseudomys chapmani, P. hermannsburgensis, P. delicatulus and Mus musculus using footpad patterns. Western Australian Naturalist 19: 69-73
Copson, G.R. 1986. The diet of the introduced rodents Mus musculus L. and Rattus rattus L. on subantarctic Macquarie Island. Australian Wildlife Research 13: 441-445
Dickman, C.R. 1992. Predation and habitat shift in the house mouse, Mus domesticus. Ecology 73: 313-322
Fox, B.J. & Twigg, L.E. 1991. Experimental transplants of mice (Pseudomys and Mus) on to early stages of post-mining regeneration in open forest. Australian Journal of Ecology 16: 281-287
Haering, R. & Fox, B.J. 1997. Habitat use by sympatric populations of Pseudomys novaehollandiae and Mus domesticus. Australian Journal of Ecology 22: 69-80
Hunt, W.G. & Selander, R.K. 1973. Biochemical genetics of hybridization in European house mice. Heredity 31: 11-33
Kay, B.J., Twigg, L.E., Korn, T.J. & Nicol, H.I. 1994. The use of artificial perches to increase predation on house mice (Mus domesticus) by raptors. Wildlife Research 21: 95-106
Kay, B.J., Twigg, L.E. & Nicol. H.I. 1994. The strategic use of rodenticides against house mice (Mus domesticus) prior to crop invasion. Wildlife Research 21: 11-19
Krebs, C.J., Kennedy, A.J. & Singleton, G.R. 1995. Movements of feral house mice in agricultural landscapes. Australian Journal of Zoology 43: 293-302
Krebs, C.J., Singleton, G.R. & Kennedy, A.J. 1994. Six reasons why feral house mouse populations might have low recapture rates. Wildlife Research 21: 559-567
Lunney, D., Cullis, B. & Eby, P. 1987. Effects of logging and fire on small mammals in Mumbulla State Forest, near Bega, New South Wales. Australian Wildlife Research 14: 163-181
Lunney, D. & Ashby, E. 1987. Population changes in Sminthopsis leucopus (Gray) (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae) and other small mammal species, in forest regenerating from logging and fire near Bega, New South Wales. Australian Wildlife Research 14: 275-284
Marshall, J.T. 1977. A synopsis of Asian species of Mus (Rodentia, Muridae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 153: 173-220
Masters, P. 1993. The effects of fire-driven succession and rainfall on small mammals in spinifex grassland at Uluru National Park, Northern Territory. Wildlife Research 20: 803-813
Mutze, G.J. 1989. Effectiveness of strychnine bait trails for poisoning mice in cereal crops. Australian Wildlife Research 16: 459-465
Mutze, G.J. 1991. Mouse plagues in South Australian cereal-growing areas. III. Changes in mouse abundance during plague and non-plague years, and the role of refugia. Wildlife Research 18: 593-604
Mutze, G.J. 1993. Cost-effectiveness of poison bait trails for control of house mice in mallee cereal crops. Wildlife Research 20: 445-456
Mutze, G.J., Green, B. & Newgrain, K. 1991. Water flux and energy use in wild house mice (Mus domesticus) and the impact of seasonal aridity on breeding and population levels. Oecologia (Berlin) 88: 529-538
Mutze, G.J., Veitch, L.G. & Miller, R.B. 1990. Mouse plagues in South Australian cereal-growing areas. II. An empirical model for prediction of plagues. Australian Wildlife Research 17: 313-324
Norton, T.W. 1987. The ecology of small mammals in north-eastern Tasmania II. Pseudomys novaehollandiae and the introduced Mus Musculus. Australian Wildlife Research 14: 435-441
Pennycuik, P.R., Reisner, A.H. & Westwood, N.H. 1990. Process responsible for temporal changes in the percentages of pelage colour types among the young recruited into a house mouse population in an outdoor pen. Australian Journal of Zoology 38: 105-116
Pennycuik, P.R. & Cowan, R. 1990. Odour and food preferences of house mice, Mus musculus. Australian Journal of Zoology 38: 241-247
Pennycuik, P.R. & Reisner, A.H. 1990. The founding population: the effect of difference in its size, nature and season of establishment on the subsequent dynamics of populations of house mice, Mus musculus L. Australian Journal of Zoology 38: 479-492
Pouliquen, O., Leishman, M. & Redhead, T.D. 1989. Effects of radio collars on wild mice (Mus domesticus). Canadian Journal of Zoology 68: 1607-1609
Pye, T. 1984. Biology of the house mouse (Mus musculus) on Macquarie Island. Tasmanian Naturalist 79: 6-10
Pye, T. 1993. Reproductive biology of the feral house mouse (Mus musculus) on subantarctic Macquarie Island. Wildlife Research 20: 745-758
Redhead, T.D. 1988. Prevention of plagues of house mice in rural Australia. pp. 191-205 in Prakash, I. (ed.). Rodent pest management. Boca Raton : CRC Press.
Redhead, T.D., Enright, N. & Newsome, A.E. 1985. Causes and predictions of outbreaks of Mus musculus in irrigated and non-irrigated cereal farms. Acta Zoologica Fennica 173: 123-127
Robards, G.E. & Saunders, G.R. 1998. Food preferences of house mice (Mus domesticus) and their implication for control strategies. Wildlife Research 25: 595-602
Saunders, G.R. & Giles, J.R. 1977. A relationship between plagues of the house mouse, Mus musculus (Rodentia: Muridae) and prolonged periods of dry weather in south-eastern Australia. Australian Wildlife Research 4: 241-247
Sinclair, A.R.E., Olsen, P.D. & Redhead, T.D. 1990. Can predators regulate small mammal populations. Evidence from house mouse outbreaks in Australia. Oikos 59: 382-392
Singleton, G.R, Krebs, C., Davis, S., Chambers, L. & Brown, P. 2001. Reproductive changes in fluctuating house mouse populations in Southeastern Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (B) 268: 1741-1748
Singleton, G.R. 1983. The social and genetic structure of a natural colony of house mice, Mus musculus, at Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary. Australian Journal of Zoology 31: 155-166
Singleton, G.R. 1985. A demographic and genetic study of house mice, Mus musculus, colonizing pasture haystacks on a cereal farm. Australian Journal of Zoology 33: 437-450
Singleton, G.R. 1985. Population dynamics of Mus musculus and its parasites in mallee wheatlands in Victoria during and after a drought. Australian Wildlife Research 12: 437-445
Singleton, G.R. 1995. House Mouse Mus musculus. pp. 646-647 in Strahan, R. (ed.). The Mammals of Australia: The National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife. Sydney : Reed New Holland 756 pp.
Singleton, G.R., Brown, P.R., Pech, R.P., Jacob, J., Mutze, G.J. & Krebs, C.J. 2005. One hundred years of eruptions of house mice in Australia – a natural biological curio. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society of London 84: 617-627
Singleton, G.R., Twigg, L.E., Weaver, K.E. & Kay, B.J. 1991. Evaluation of bromodiolone against house mouse (Mus domesticus) populations in irrigated soybean crops. II. Economics. Wildlife Research 18: 275-283
Singleton, G.R. & Redhead, T. 1989. House mouse plagues. pp. 418-433 in Noble, J.C. & Bradstock, R.A. (eds). Mediterranean landscapes in Australia. Mallee ecosystems and their management. Melbourne : CSIRO.
Singleton, G.R. & Redhead, T.D. 1990. Structure and biology of house mouse populations that plague irregularly: an evolutionary perspective. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society of London 41: 285-300
Southgate, R. & Masters, P. 1996. Fluctuations of rodent populations in response to rainfall and fire in a central Australian hummock grassland dominated by Plectrachne schinzii. Wildlife Research 23: 289-303
Storer, T.I. (ed.) 1962. Pacific Island Rat Ecology Report of a study made on Ponape and adjacent islands 1955–1958. Bulletin of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum 225: 1-274
Tann, C.R., Singleton, G.R. & Coman, B.J. 1991. Diet of the house mouse, Mus domesticus, in the malee wheatlands of north-western Victoria. Wildlife Research 18: 1-12 [See Wildlife Research 18: 375 for Corrigendum]
Thompson, M.B., Medlin, G., Hutchinson, R. & West, N. 1989. Short-term effects of fuel reduction burning on populations of small terrestrial mammals. Australian Wildlife Research 16: 117-129
Twigg, L.E., Singleton, G.R. & Kay, B.J. 1991. Evaluation of bromadioline against house mouse (Mus domesticus) populations in irrigated soybean crops. I. Efficacy of control. Wildlife Research 18: 275-274
Twigg, L.E. & Kay, B.J. 1992. Effects of flooding on field populations of house mice (Mus domesticus). Wildlife Research 19: 145-149
Twigg, L.E. & Kay, B.J. 1994. Changes in the relative abundance of raptors and house mice in western New South Wales. Corella 18: 83-86
Twigg, L.E. & Kay, B.J. 1994. The effects of microhabitat and weather on house mice (Mus domesticus) numbers and the implications for management. Journal of Applied Ecology 31: 651-663
Twigg, L.E. & Kay, B.J. 1995. The ecology of house mice (Mus domesticus) in and around irrigated summer crops in western New South Wales. Wildlife Research 1995: 717-732
Valsecchi, P., Singleton, G.R. & Price, W.J. 1996. Can social behaviour influence food preference of wild mice, Mus domesticus, in confined field populations? Australian Journal of Zoology 44: 493-502
Watts, C.H.S. & Morton, S.R. 1983. Notes on the diets of Mus musculus and Pseudomys hermannsburgensis (Rodentia: Muridae) in western Queensland. Australian Mammalogy 6: 81-82
Common Name References
ABRS 2001. Census of Australian Vertebrates. Australian Biological Resources Study. (House Mouse)
History of changes
| Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04-Feb-2023 | 10-Dec-2010 | MOVED | ||
| 10-Dec-2010 | 10-Dec-2010 | MODIFIED | ||
| 12-Feb-2010 | (import) |