Pseudomys occidentalis Tate 1951

Pseudomys occidentalis Tate 1951, Bull. Am. Mus . Nat. Hist., 97: 246.

Type Locality: Australia, Western Australia, Tambellup.

Vernacular Names: Western Pseudomys.

Distribution: Australia; extant range in SW Western Australia, subfossil specimens indicate species extended along S coastline to Kangaroo Isl off coast of South Australia (Kitchener, 1992; Robinson et al., 2000; Watts and Aslin, 1981:205).

Conservation: U.S. ESA and IUCN – Endangered.

Discussion: Considered "rare and likely to become extinct," but range was contracting before arrival of Europeans (Watts and Aslin, 1981:205). Electrophoretic data clustered P. occidentalis with all other Pseudomys analyzed except P. fumeus, P. gracilicaudatus, P. nanus, and P. shortridgei (Baverstock et al., 1981) . Reviewed by Whisson and Kitchener (1995).