Mayor's mouse

Mayor's mouse, Mus mayori, is a rodent of the genus Mus, the mice, that is endemic to Sri Lanka, where it is also called the highland rat or the spiny mouse. It lives in tropical and subtropical forest types and in wet grassland habitat. It is fossorial, seeking shelter by digging burrows, and it is nocturnal. The species is widespread in parts of Sri Lanka, but it faces a number of threats, including deforestation and domestic cats. Two subspecies are recognised, Mus mayori mayori and Mus mayori pococki. A recent study catalogued the parasites carried by the subspecies pococki: a mite of the genus Echinolaelaps, a tick of the genus Ixodes and the sucking louse Polyplax spinulosa. A new species of pseudoscorpion, Megachernes kanneliyensis, was found on the mouse and described from it, and the mouse also carries the native Sri Lankan flea Stivalius phoberus.