Mouse

mouse, (genus Mus), the common name generally but imprecisely applied to rodents found throughout the world with bodies less than about 12 cm (5 inches) long. In a scientific context, mouse refers to any of the 38 species in the genus Mus, which is the Latin word for mouse. The house mouse (Mus musculus), native to Central Asia, has established itself with human populations in many other parts of the world.

All rodents with a mouselike or ratlike body, regardless of body size or diagnostic traits, were described as species of Mus between 1758 and the late 1800s. Subsequent study shifted most of those species into many different groups, leaving Mus as a smaller, clearly defined genus with a particular combination of traits. Within the genus there are four distinctive groups: spiny mice (subgenus Pyromys), shrew-mice (subgenus Coelomys), rice field mice and the house mouse (subgenus Mus), and African mice (subgenus Nannomys).