North American Jumping Mice (Genus Zapus)Krutzsch, Philip H. (Philip Henry)
Science
North American Jumping Mice (Genus Zapus)
Krutzsch, Philip H. (Philip Henry)
Zapus
Quimby (1951:74) frequently found the fleas, _Megabothris quirini_
Rothschild, and _Megabothris wagneri_ (Baker), and occasionally a larval
tick, _Dermocenter variabilis_ (Say), on _Z. hudsonius_. Sheldon
(1934:296) remarks that captive animals are burdened with numerous
fleas. Hamilton (1935:191) removed a louse from a jumping mouse. One
mouse had a hole in the throat and three others had holes in the
inguinal region; presumably bot-flies had emerged from these holes. Test
(1943:507) found a single _Cuterebra_ larva in the inguinal region of a
_Z. hudsonius_, and Sheldon (1938:328) found _Z. hudsonius_ infested by
larvae of _Cuterebra fontinella_ Clark. Here, as in other cases, these
larvae were found immediately below the skin. Erickson (1938:252)
examined 18 _Z. hudsonius_ obtained in Minnesota, and found that three
were parasitized. He found a bot-fly larva, _Cuterebra_ sp., nematodes
of the genera _Subulura_ and _Spirocerca_, and a fluke of the genus
_Notocotylus_.
_Food._--Quimby (1951:85-86) studied the food preferences, by presenting
to caged _Z. hudsonius_ the plants and invertebrate animals normally
available to these mice in nature, and indicates that in general, the
starchy fruits of the Gramineae and the less fleshy fruits of various
groups of plants are more heavily utilized than other plant materials.
His observations indicate that these rodents are highly insectivorous
and that they consume many insects under natural conditions. Goodwin
(1935:148) reports that the stomach contents of several individuals
obtained at South Woodstock, Connecticut, consisted exclusively of
blackberries, and that others had subsisted principally on cranberries.
Hamilton (1935:197) remarks that seeds are the favored food but that
berries, nuts, fruits of various kinds, roots, and insects are also
utilized. Stoner (1918:123) writes that the food in cultivated areas of
Iowa is various grains as well as grass and weed seeds; in wooded places
the mice feed on seeds and nuts of trees. Vernon Bailey (1927:118)
states that the examination of a great many stomachs of these jumping
mice [in North Dakota] revealed nothing "but the fine white pulp of
carefully shelled, well-masticated seeds. Generally these are from
grasses, although grain and a variety of other plant seeds are eaten."
Schmidt (1931:116) examined the stomach contents of several _Z.
hudsonius_ taken in Clark County, Wisconsin, and in most stomachs found
the remains of finely chewed roots; however, two from Hewett had eaten
several geometrid caterpillars.
Lyon (1938:279), Stoner (1918:123), and J. W. Bailey (1946:263) present
information which indicates that _Z. hudsonius_ stores food in its nests
or burrows. Possibly these mice awaken at intervals from hibernation and
eat.
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