361.

Hastings River Mouse

Pseudomys oralis

French: Pseudomys du Hastings / German: Hastings-RiverAustralienmaus / Spanish: Raton de Hastings

Other common names: Hastings River Pseudomys, Koontoo

Taxonomy. Pseudomys australis oralis Thomas, 1921, “coast region of New South Wales,” Australia .

G. H. H.Tate in 1951 placed P. oralis in genus Pseudomys on morphological grounds. C. H. S. Watts and H. J. Aslin,in their 1981 book, put it in the so-called “group three” with P. delicatulus, P. hermannsburgensis, P. fumeus, P. novaehollandiae, and P. albocinereus. DNA studies provided a different arrangement, and B. Breed and F. Ford in

2007 considered P. occidentalis and P. oralis to be members of the same group, whereas a phylogeny by P. Smissen and K. C. Rowe, in H. J. McLennan and colleagues’ 2017 study, found P. oralis to be sister taxon of a clade composed of P. shortridgei + P. desertor . D. R. Jerry and coworkers, in their 1998 genetic analysis of the different populations of P. oralis, found the existence of two mitochondrial lineages, separated by an unsampled gap in northern New South Wales; K. M. C. Rowe and colleagues in 2012 used new specimens from the gap and recovered the two isolated evolutionary lineages. Monotypic.

Distribution. SE Queensland and NE New South Wales, Australia.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 120-160 mm, tail 110150 mm, ear 15-22 mm, hindfoot 30-34 mm; weight 80-100 g. Males are larger than females. The Hastings River Mouse is a large Pseudomys with a brownish-gray dorsal pelage, becoming grayish white ventrally. The tail, which is equal to or slightly smaller than head-body length,is bi-colored, dark above and pale below.The feet are long and slender.

Habitat. Rocky areas in dry orwet sclerophyll woodlands and open eucalyptus forest, at elevations of 300-1250 m.These habitats are characterized by dense ground cover of grass, sedge, rush orheath in the height range of 10-75 cm, with fallen trees, holes in the ground, rock piles, and boulders providing shelter against predators.

Food and Feeding. The Hastings River Mouse is omnivorous and predominantly vegetarian. Leaves make up 46-77% of the diet, seeds 12-44%, insects 2—7%, flowers less than 2%, with pollen, ferns, sporangiae, and fungi up to 1% each.

Breeding. Litter size is 2-3, and up to three litters can be produced in one year.

Activity patterns. Hastings River Mice are terrestrial and nocturnal. Individuals spend the day in refugia below ground or in holes of fallen logs.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. A radio-tracking study in New South Wales gave a mean home range of between 0-72 ha and 0-78 ha. Median home range values were larger for males (0-8 ha) than for females (0-53 ha).

Status and Conservation. Classified as Vulnerable on The IUCN Red List. The small, declining, and isolated populations of the Hastings River Mouse are subject to various threats across their range. These include, among others, fires, overgrazing, logging, removal of logs, feral predators, and competition from Rattus species.

Bibliography. Breed & Ford (2007), Ford (2006), Fox et al. (1994), Jerry et al. (1998), King (1984), McLennan et al. (2017), Meek (2002), Meek, Cray & Cann (2003), Meek, Radford & Tolhurst (2006), Pyke & Read (2002), Rowe etal. (2012), Tate (1951), Watts & Aslin (1981).