Mus minotaurus

{{Short description|Extinct species of mouse}}

{{Speciesbox

| extinct = EX

| taxon = Mus minotaurus

| authority = Bate, 1942

}}

Mus minotaurus is an extinct species of mouse native to Crete during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene. It descended from a Mus musculus (house mouse)-like ancestor that arrived on Crete during the late Middle Pleistocene, replacing Kritimys, a large rat-like rodent that inhabited Crete during the Early and Middle Pleistocene. Both Kritimys and the ancestor of Mus minotaurus, Mus bateae are found together in Stavrós Cave.{{cite book |last=Lyras |first=George A. |chapter=The Fossil Record of Insular Endemic Mammals from Greece |date=2022 |title=Fossil Vertebrates of Greece |volume=2 |pages=661–701 |editor-last=Vlachos |editor-first=Evangelos |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-68442-6_25 |isbn=978-3-030-68441-9 |last2=Athanassiou |first2=Athanassios |last3=van der Geer |first3=Alexandra A. E.}} The Mus batae-minotaurus lineage shows a tendency to increase in size with time, an example of island gigantism, with Mus minotaurus being one of the largest known members of the genus Mus, with a body mass of approximately 54 grams,{{Cite journal |last=van den Hoek Ostende |first=Lars W. |last2=van der Geer |first2=Alexandra A.E. |last3=Wijngaarden |first3=Carlijne L. |date=2017-07-25 |title=Why are there no giants at the dwarves feet? Insular micromammals in the eastern Mediterranean |journal=Quaternary International |volume=445 |pages=269–278 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2016.05.007}} over 3 times the size of its mainland ancestor.{{Cite journal |last=Lomolino |first=Mark V. |last2=van der Geer |first2=Alexandra A. |last3=Lyras |first3=George A. |last4=Palombo |first4=Maria Rita |last5=Sax |first5=Dov F. |last6=Rozzi |first6=Roberto |date=August 2013 |editor-last=Triantis |editor-first=Kostas |title=Of mice and mammoths: generality and antiquity of the island rule |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jbi.12096 |journal=Journal of Biogeography |language=en |volume=40 |issue=8 |pages=1427–1439 |doi=10.1111/jbi.12096 |issn=0305-0270|url-access=subscription }} It was likely heavily predated upon by the extinct endemic Cretan owl, as evidenced by the abundance of its remains found in owl pellets.M. Pavia, C. Mourer-Chauviré [https://iris.unito.it/bitstream/2318/90610/1/14%20bis%20-%20Pavia%20%26%20Mourer-Chauvir%C3%A9%202002%20Athene%20trinacriae%20SAPE.pdf An overview of the Genus Athene in the Pleistocene of the Mediterranean Islands, with the Description of Athene trinacriae n.sp. (Aves: Strigidae)] Z. Zhou, F. Zhang (Eds.), Proceedings of the 5th Symposium of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution, Beijing Science Press (2002), pp. 13-27 It inhabited the island alongside a species of elephant (Palaeoloxodon creutzburgi), the radiation of endemic Candiacervus deer, the Cretan otter, and the Cretan shrew (which is still extant). Mus minotaurus became extinct sometime during the Holocene epoch, with its remains apparently being found in Neolithic and early Bronze Age sites on the island. Its extinction may have been due to competition with the closely related house mouse introduced to the island by humans during the early Bronze Age.{{Cite journal |last=Papayiannis |first=Katerina |date=June 2012 |title=The micromammals of Minoan Crete: human intervention in the ecosystem of the island |journal=Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments |language=en |volume=92 |issue=2 |pages=239–248 |doi=10.1007/s12549-012-0081-9 |issn=1867-1594}}