Animalia > Chordata > Mammalia > Rodentia > Muridae > Acomys > Acomys subspinosus

Acomys subspinosus (Cape spiny mouse)

Wikipedia Abstract

The cape spiny mouse (Acomys subspinosus) is a murid rodent found in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. They have a dorsal covering of spiny hairs with dark grey-brown coloration, and a white underbelly. The Cape Spiny Mouse has large eyes and ears and a scaly, nearly bald tail that is brittle and can break off readily either as a whole or in part if it is caught. Their total length is 17 cm, with an 8 cm tail, and they typically weigh 22g.
View Wikipedia Record: Acomys subspinosus

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
1
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
9
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 2.87
EDGE Score: 1.35
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  21 grams
Diet [2]  Carnivore (Vertebrates), Herbivore
Diet - Plants [2]  70 %
Diet - Vertibrates [2]  30 %
Forages - Ground [2]  100 %
Snout to Vent Length [3]  7 inches (18 cm)

Ecoregions

Name Countries Ecozone Biome Species Report Climate Land
Use
Lowland fynbos and renosterveld South Africa Afrotropic Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub
Montane fynbos and renosterveld South Africa Afrotropic Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Cape Floral Region Protected Areas World Heritage Site 1366493 South Africa  
Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve II 256073 Western Cape, South Africa  
Tsitsikamma National Park II 34343 Southern Cape, South Africa  

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Cape Floristic Region South Africa Yes

Consumers

Pollinator of 
Protea humiflora[4]

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Felisa A. Smith, S. Kathleen Lyons, S. K. Morgan Ernest, Kate E. Jones, Dawn M. Kaufman, Tamar Dayan, Pablo A. Marquet, James H. Brown, and John P. Haskell. 2003. Body mass of late Quaternary mammals. Ecology 84:3403
♦ 2Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 3Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 4How important is the relationship between Protea humiflora (Proteaceae) and its non-flying mammal pollinators?, P. A. Fleming · S. W. Nicolson, Oecologia (2002) 132:361–368
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0