Acomys nesiotes
Europe & Northern Asia (excluding China) 5771 0
Hold Ctrl whilst dragging to view details of selected occurrences.
"Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)." (Gerrie & Kennerley, 2019)
Cryptogenic:
"It is expected to have two disjunct populations in the rocky areas of the island: the Troodos massiv in the south and the Kyrenia hills in the north, which are separated by the non-rocky Mesaoria lowlands. In 2007, four individuals were captured by M. Sozen and colleagues around Lefkosa (Nicosia) area at an altitude of about 600 meters asl." (Gerrie & Kennerley, 2019)
According to Gerrie & Kennerley (2019), Acomys nesiotes is a "poorly defined" species. These authors consider that it is likely to be part of Acomys cahirinus but it is currently recognized as a valid taxon (see Barome et al. 2001, and Musser and Carleton 2005 for discussion). Frynta et al. (2010) and Giagia-Athanasopoulou et al. (2011) also consider that this is a subspecies of A. cahirinus.
Acomys nesiotes is often considered an endemic species (or subspecies) to Cyprus, although sources suggest that it was introduced to Cyprus by humans in antiquity. Even if this is the case, the resulting isolation of the taxon on the island of Cyprus is likely to have led to phylogenetic distinctiveness, even if this is only recognised at the subspecies level, in which case this taxon should be probably be considered native rather than non-native (at least under some species concepts). We keep it in this catalogue, however, because of its previous inclusion in at least one other catalogue of non-native species on Cyprus (see https://www.gbif.org/species/159514206).
Barome PO, Volobouev V, Monnerot M, Mfune JK, Chitaukali W, Gautun J-C, Denys C (2001) Phylogeny of Acomys spinosissimus (Rodentia, Muridae) from north Malawi and Tanzania: evidence from morphological and molecular analysis. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 73(3): 321-340. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2001.tb01366.x
Frynta D, Palupčíková K, Bellinvia E, Benda P, Skarlantová H, Schwarzová L, Modrý D (2010) Phylogenetic relationships within the cahirinus-dimidiatus group of the genus Acomys (Rodentia: Muridae): new mitochondrial lineages from Sahara, Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Zootaxa 2660: 45-56.
Gerrie R, Kennerley R (2019) Acomys nesiotes. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T271A2789136. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-1.RLTS.T271A2789136.en. Downloaded on 18 September 2020.
Giagia-Athanasopoulou EB, Rovatsos MTH, Mitsainas GP, Martimianakis S, Lymberakis P, Angelou L-XD, Marchal JA, Sánchez A (2011) New data on the evolution of the Cretan spiny mouse, Acomys minous (Rodentia: Murinae), shed light on the phylogenetic relationships in the cahirinus group. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 102(3): 498-509. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2010.01592.x
Musser GG, Carleton MD (2005) Superfamily Muroidea. In: Wilson DE, Reeder DM (Eds) Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, pp. 894–1531.