Peromyscus leucopus,
common name: white-footed mouse

In the article cited below, C. S. Rafinesque wrote, not long after visiting New Harmony, I have visited...the lower parts of the Ohio, the Wabash, Green River, Barrens, Prairies, and the states of Indiana, Illinois, &c. where I have added much to my former discoveries. I shall proceed to enumerate some of them... The quadrupeds of North-America have long ago attracted the notice of hunters and naturalists, but two extensive tribes of small animals, had almost totally escaped their notice, I mean the bats and the rats.

Among the "rats" first described by Rafinesque in this article is the white-footed mouse. Rafinesque's name was Musculus leucopus, but the species was later placed in the genus Peromyscus.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque,, "Article 5. Museum of natural history: Farther Account of Discoveries in Natural History, in the Western States, by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, Esq. communicated in a Letter from that Gentleman to the Editor," The American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review 3, no. 6 (October, 1818) 445-447.

The photograph of a white-footed mouse shown here is the work of L. L. Master. I thank the Natural Resources Ecology Laboratory (NREL), Colorado State University, for permission to use the photo here. Other photos by L. L. Master can be seen at the NREL site.

For further details about the white-footed mouse, visit the Smithsonian Institution's Mammal Species of the World Home Page (link below).

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, naturalist
Mammal Species of the World Home Page
New Harmony Scientists, Educators, Writers & Artists
Clark Kimberling Home Page