The discovery of Mus cypriacus in Cyprus has surprised scientists who thought all the mammals in Europe had already been discovered.

Credit: Durham University

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SYDNEY: A new mammal has been added to the books, surprising scientists who believed all the mammals in Europe had already been discovered, a British study suggests.

Thomas Cucchi of Durham University in the U.K. found the new critter, a species of mouse called Mus cypriacus, in Cyprus. Cucchi is an archaeozoologist and expert on the origin and human dispersal of house mice. His findings have been published in the international journal Zootaxa.

“New mammal species are mainly discovered in hot spots of biodiversity like South East Asia and it was generally believed that every species of mammal in Europe had been identified,” explained Cucchi. “This is why the discovery of a new species of mouse on Cyprus was so unexpected and exciting.”

Cucchi was in Cyprus studying archaeological remains of mice teeth from the Neolithic period and comparing them with those of four modern day European mice species. His goal was to see if the new mouse came along when humans colonised the island 10,000 years ago.

“To understand the origin of this new mouse I compared its teeth morphology with the ones of fossil mice collected by palaeontologists,” said Cucchi. “This comparison revealed that this mouse colonised and adapted to the Cypriot environment several thousand years before the arrival of man.”

Mus cypriacus differs from its European brethren in its enlarged facial features. The new mouse has a bigger head, ears, eyes and teeth. Genetic tests confirmed the mouse belonged to a different species, found only on Cyprus.

Cucchi’s discovery revealed that the endemic mouse, a mouse confined to a particular geographic region, had survived the arrival of humans to the island and now coexisted with common European house mice, whose ancestors came along with humans during Neolithic colonisation.

This new mouse stands out because it is the only endemic rodent still alive today, making it a living fossil. All other endemic mammals from the Mediterranean islands perished following the arrival of humans, with the exception of two species of shrew.

“The discovery of this new species and the riddle behind its survival offers a new area of study for scientists studying the evolutionary process of mammals and the ecological consequences of human activities on island biodiversity,” Cucchi said.