Puebla deer mouse

Puebla deer mouse
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Cricetidae
Subfamily:	Neotominae
Genus:	Peromyscus
Species:	P. mekisturus
Binomial name
Peromyscus mekisturus Merriam, 1898

The Puebla deer mouse (Peromyscus mekisturus) is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. Only two specimens are known, both from Puebla, Mexico, with the last collected in 1947. It is therefore possible that the species is now extinct, although it is currently listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN.

Advanced studies have identified that P. mekisturus is a sister species of Reithrodontomys. The study used mitogenome phylogeny to identify the sister species of P. mekisturus. Recent genomic analysis further supports this placement, suggesting that P. mekisturus belongs to an undescribed genus of cricetid rodents. Therefore calling for the need of a taxonomic re-evaluation of this species.

References

• Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. (2005). Superfamily Muroidea. pp. 894–1531 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
• Castañeda-Rico, S., León-Paniagua, L., Edwards, C. W., & Maldonado, J. E. (2020). Ancient DNA From Museum Specimens and Next Generation Sequencing Help Resolve the Controversial Evolutionary History of the Critically Endangered Puebla Deer Mouse. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.00094