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NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Spinifex Hopping Mouse

Notomys alexis Thomas, 1922

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.

A hopping mouse is any of about ten different Australian native mice in the genus Notomys. They are rodents, not marsupials, and their ancestors are thought to have arrived from Asia about 5 million years ago. From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopping_mice This is my most viewed image, as of April 2008 over 4000 views!

A hopping mouse is any of about ten different Australian native mice in the genus Notomys. They are rodents, not marsupials, and their ancestors are thought to have arrived from Asia about 5 million years ago. From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopping_mice This is my most viewed image, as of April 2008 over 4000 views!

Stephen Michael Barnett from Darwin, Australia · CC BY 2.0 · Image source

Provider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.

Open encyclopedia reference

The spinifex hopping mouse (Notomys alexis), also known as the tarkawara or tarrkawarra, occurs throughout the central and western Australian arid zones, occupying both spinifex-covered sand flats and stabilised sand dunes, and loamy mulga and melaleuca flats.

The population fluctuates greatly: in normal years it is sparsely distributed and probably confined to sandy country; after rain the population explodes and spreads to other types of habitat for a time.

They are mostly seen at night, bounding across open ground on their large hind feet, with tails extended and the body almost horizontal.

As semi-fossorial, burrowing surface foragers, the tiny hopping mice spend a great deal of energy not just foraging for food, but also transporting it back to their burrows. In fact, it was found that the total energy spent on transporting food in relation to energy investment on burrows far outweighed any other similar type of species.

Wikipedia contributors, Spinifex hopping mouse; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:48:44.582588+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Notomys alexis Thomas, 1922
Name authority
Thomas, 1922
Common name
Spinifex Hopping Mouse
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Mammalia
Order
Rodentia
Family
Muridae
Genus
Notomys
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. genusNotomys Lesson, 1842
  17. speciesNotomys alexis Thomas, 1922

Close classified relatives

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

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Long-tailed Hopping MouseNotomys longicaudatus (Gould, 1844)MuridaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extinct
Mitchell's Hopping MouseNotomys mitchellii (Ogilby, 1838)MuridaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Darling Downs Hopping MouseNotomys mordax Thomas, 1922MuridaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extinct
Short-tailed Hopping MouseNotomys amplus Brazenor, 1936MuridaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extinct
Fawn Hopping MouseNotomys cervinus (Gould, 1853)MuridaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Dusky Hopping MouseNotomys fuscus (Wood Jones, 1925)MuridaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Big-eared Hopping MouseNotomys macrotis Thomas, 1921MuridaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extinct

Browse 672 records assigned to Muridae.

Names & synonyms

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

Recorded nameSource status
Notomys alexis reginae Troughton, 1936 Troughton, 1936synonym
Notomys alexis everardensis Finlayson, 1940 Finlayson, 1940synonym

Documented distribution

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

Australia

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=585438 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:47WWS. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.