Mus musculus Linnaeus, 1758

Jo, Yeong-Seok, Baccus, John T. & Koprowski, John L., 2018, Mammals of Korea: a review of their taxonomy, distribution and conservation status, Zootaxa 4522 (1), pp. 1-216 : 184-185

Mus musculus Linnaeus, 1758 —House Mouse

Mus musculus Linnaeus, 1758 p.62 ; Type locality- Uppsala, Sweden; Jones & Johnson, 1965 p.393; Won, 1968 p.178; Corbet, 1978 p.141; Han, 1994 p.47; Won & Smith, 1999 p.27; Han, 2004c p.121.

M. molossinus Temminck and Schlegel in Siebold, 1842 p.51; Type locality- Japan; Won, 1967 p.249.

M. kambei Kishida and Mori, 1931 p.378 (Nomen nudum).

M. takagii Kishida and Mori, 1931 p.378 (Nomen nudum).

M. bactrianus yamashinai Kuroda, 1934a p.234 ; Type locality- Mokpo, Korea; Kuroda, 1938 p.74.

M. molossinus utsuryonis Mori, 1938 p.17 ; Type locality- Ulleung (Utsuro) Island, Korea.

M. musculus molossinus: Ellerman, 1941 p.248 ; Ellerman & Morrison-Scott, 1951 p.606; Jones & Johnson, 1965 p.395; Won, 1968 p.178; Jo et al., 2012 p.252.

M. musculus yamashiani: Ellerman, 1941 p.248 ; Won, 1958 p.449; Jones & Johnson, 1965 p.395.

M. musculus utsuryonis: Won, 1958 p.450 ; Won & Woo, 1958 p.88; Jones & Johnson, 1965 p.395.

M. musculus musculus: Yoon, 1992 p.86 .

Range: Often house mice occur arable lands, pastures, coastal sand dunes, salt marshes and scrubby road verges ( Macdonald & Barrett 1993). However, feral house mice are extremely rare in Korea ( Won 1967). On the Korean Peninsula and islands, the distribution of M. musculus is closely associated with human habitations ( Jo et al. 2012; Fig. 126 ).

Remarks: Suzuki et al. (2013) identified five distinct clades of house mouse; musculus in northern Eurasia; castanes in India and southeast Asia; an unspecified Nepali clade; domesticus in western Europe; and gentilulus in Yemen. Populations from Korea belong to the musculus clade. House mice in Korea originate from multiple and non-coincidental dispersals from the West ( Suzuki et al. 2013). Three subspecies, M. m. yamashinai Kuroda, 1934 on the peninsula, M. m. molossinus Temminck, 1845 on Jeju Island and M. m. utsuryonis Mori, 1938 on Ulleung Island, have been described from Korea. Some taxa hybridize with different subspecies, including the Japanese house mouse (M. m. molossinus ) ( Yonekawa et al. 1998). DNA analysis supported either M. m. molossinus or M. m. musculus as the primary subspecies of house mouse for all of northeastern Asia, including Korea, northern China and Japan and therefore, Korean house mice are polymorphic ( Yonekawa et al. 1998, Musser & Carleton 2005).

Figures

FIGURE 126. Range map of Mus musculus in Korea.