NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Earth-Colored mouse
Mus (Mus) terricolor Blyth, 1851
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The earth-colored mouse (Mus terricolor) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.
It is found in India, possibly Indonesia, Nepal, and Pakistan. The earth-colored mouse lives in cultivated fields in raised moist mounds of Earth, where they burrow and locate their nest about 20 cm or 8 inches deep. Living in a raised mound of soil offers them more oxygen flow from air coming through the surrounding sides as well as from above. In contrast, their co-existing sibling species Mus booduga burrow in the flat parts of the field, which allows for niche differentiation.
Wikipedia contributors, Earth-colored mouse; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:35:42.579155+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Mus (Mus) terricolor Blyth, 1851
- Name authority
- Blyth, 1851
- Common name
- Earth-Colored 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderRodentia Bowdich, 1821
- suborderMyomorpha Brandt, 1855
- superfamilyMuroidea Illiger, 1811
- familyMuridae Illiger, 1811
- subfamilyMurinae Illiger, 1811
- genusMus Linnaeus, 1758
- subgenusMus Linnaeus, 1758
- speciesMus (Mus) terricolor Blyth, 1851
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Mus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Baoule's MouseMus (Nannomys) baoulei (Vermeiren & Verheyen, 1980) | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Little Indian Field MouseMus (Mus) booduga (Gray, 1837) | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Toad MouseMus (Nannomys) bufo (Thomas, 1906) | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Callewaert's MouseMus (Nannomys) callewaerti (Thomas, 1925) | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ryukyu MouseMus (Mus) caroli Bonhote, 1902 | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Fawn-colored MouseMus (Mus) cervicolor Hodgson, 1845 | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cook's MouseMus (Mus) cookii Ryley, 1914 | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Hausa MouseMus (Nannomys) haussa (Thomas & Hinton, 1920) | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Mahomet MouseMus (Nannomys) mahomet Rhoads, 1896 | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Matthey's MouseMus (Nannomys) mattheyi F. Petter, 1969 | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Subsaharan Pygmy MouseMus (Nannomys) musculoides Temminck, 1853 | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Mus (Mus) nitidulus Blyth, 1859 | MuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Mus beavanii Peters, 1866 Peters, 1866 | synonym |
| Leggada dunni Wroughton, 1912 Wroughton, 1912 | synonym |
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.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=585409 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:44NNR. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.