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Pebble-mound mice are a group of rodents from Australia in the genus ''Pseudomys''. They are small, brownish mice with medium to long, often pinkish brown tails. They construct mounds of pebbles around their burrows, which play an important role in their social life. There are four complementarily distributed species of pebble-mound mice in northern Australia. Their distribution appears to be limited by climatic conditions and the availability of pebbles and is thought to be the result of early Pleistocene dispersal across areas that are now inhospitable to pebble-mound mice. None of the four species is endangered. ==Taxonomy== Pebble-mound mice also known as field mice comprise four species, which have complementary distributions across northern Australia.〔Breed and Ford, 2007, p. 27〕 The four species are as follows: *Western pebble-mound mouse (''Pseudomys chapmani''), Pilbara region (northern Western Australia), first described in 1980.〔Musser and Carleton, 2005, p. 1455〕 *Central pebble-mound mouse (''Pseudomys johnsoni''), from the Kimberley region of northernmost Western Australia through the central Northern Territory into westernmost Queensland,〔 first described in 1985. The western populations were previously thought to be a separate species, ''P. laborifex'', described in 1986,〔Musser and Carleton, 2005, p. 1458〕 but the two are very closely related and are now considered to form a single species.〔Ford and Johnson, 2006, p. 515; Breed and Ford, 2007, p. 27〕 Kimberley Mouse (''Pseudomys laborifex'') is still considered to be a unique species by the Western Australian Museum as of March 2015. *Kakadu pebble-mound mouse (''Pseudomys calabyi''), northern Northern Territory, first described in 1987. It was first described as a subspecies of ''P. laborifex'', but later recognized as a distinct species.〔 *Eastern pebble-mound mouse (''Pseudomys patrius''), eastern Queensland, first described in 1909. It was associated with the delicate mouse (''Pseudomys delicatulus'') for many decades and recognized as a pebble-mound mouse only in 1991.〔Breed and Ford, 2007, p. 27; Musser and Carleton, 2005, pp. 1459–1460〕 Pebble-mound mice are currently classified within the genus ''Pseudomys'', a diverse group that includes morphologically and behaviorally disparate species.〔Ford, 2006, pp. 119, 121〕 The four pebble-mound mice form a cohesive group supported by behavioral, morphological, and molecular similarities and may deserve recognition as a separate genus.〔Breed and Ford, 2007, p. 16; Ford, 2006, p. 131〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pebble-mound mouse」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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