house mouse

n. A common mouse (Mus musculus) that lives in or near buildings, can be an agricultural pest and carrier of disease, and is bred in numerous strains for use as a laboratory animal.

house mouse

n (Animals) any of various greyish mice of the Old World genus Mus, esp M. musculus, a common household pest in most parts of the world: family Muridae

house′ mouse`

n. an Old World mouse, Mus musculus, introduced worldwide. [1825–35]

Thesaurus

Noun

house mouse - brownish-grey Old World mouse now a common household pest worldwideMus musculusmouse - any of numerous small rodents typically resembling diminutive rats having pointed snouts and small ears on elongated bodies with slender usually hairless tailsgenus Mus, Mus - type genus of the Muridae: common house mice; the tips of the upper incisors have a square notch

House Mouse

(Mus musculus), a mammal of the family Muridae of the order Rodentia. The body measures 7-10.8 cm long and the tail, 4.2-10.2 cm. The house mouse is distributed almost throughout the world, except the arctic and antarctic. It is a wild species of southern origin. It utilizes the foodstuffs and domiciles of man, as a result of which it has extended its natural area of distribution greatly, living almost everywhere. Under natural conditions it digs short simple burrows or uses those of other rodents. The female gives birth to five-seven offspring. The house mouse is omnivorous. Under favorable wintering conditions and when there is abundant food, massive reproduction is possible and its numbers increase enormously. It is a pest of grain crops and destroys and fouls foodstuffs. Further, it harbors the carriers of plague; in southern regions it is the chief source of human infection with tularemia. The house mouse served as the starting point for breeding pure strains of mice used in genetic and other experimental work as laboratory animals.

REFERENCES

Argiropulo, A. I. Semeistvo Muridae—myshi. Moscow-Leningrad, 1940. (Fauna SSSR. Mlekopytaiushchie, vol. 3, fasc. 5.)
Tupikova, N. V. “Ekologiia domovoi myshi srednei polosy SSSR.”
In Materialy k poznaniiu fauny i flory SSSR; fasc. 2: Fauna i ekologiia gryzunov. Moscow, 1947.
Freye, H. A., and H. Freye. Die Hausmaus. Wittenberg, 1960.

N. V. TUPIKOVA

house mouse

house mouse

house mouse

house′ mouse`

House Mouse

House Mouse

REFERENCES

house mouse

house mouse

house mouse

Synonyms for house mouse

noun brownish-grey Old World mouse now a common household pest worldwide

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