Southern African Pygmy Mouse

Open encyclopedia reference

The African pygmy mouse (Mus minutoides) is one of the smallest rodents. It is widespread within sub-Saharan Africa, and is kept as a pet in other parts of the world. Like the common and widely introduced European house mouse, it is a member of the enormous superfamily Muroidea, which includes over 1000 different species. It forms a super- species complex with Mus musculoides. Grey to brick-red overall, it is pale on the underside and has small but prominent triangular ears. Adult body length averages 50 mm (2.0 in) long, with a 40 mm (1.6 in) tail. Average adults body weight is 5 g (0.18 oz). The African pygmy mouse reaches breeding age at about 6 to 8 weeks. Pregnancy lasts for around 20 days and the litter of about three young is born blind and hairless. Average weight of puppies at birth is 0.8 g (0.028 oz) Their eyes open after 2 weeks, and weaning is complete after 3 weeks. The lifespan is about 2 years, although individual specimens have been reported to live over 4 years in captivity.

Wikipedia contributors, African pygmy mouse; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:48:52.298932+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Mus (Nannomys) minutoides A. Smith, 1834

Name authority

A. Smith, 1834

Common name

Southern African Pygmy Mouse

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Rodentia

Family

Muridae

Genus

Mus

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderRodentia Bowdich, 1821
12. suborderMyomorpha Brandt, 1855
13. superfamilyMuroidea Illiger, 1811
14. familyMuridae Illiger, 1811
15. subfamilyMurinae Illiger, 1811
16. genusMus Linnaeus, 1758
17. subgenusNannomys Peters, 1876
18. speciesMus (Nannomys) minutoides A. Smith, 1834

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Mus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 672 records assigned to Muridae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=585393 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:44NJN. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.