What Makes it a Mouse???
The species Mus musculus is
classified as follows:
|
Domain: |
Eukarya |
|
Kingdom: |
Animalia |
|
Phylum: |
Chordata |
|
Class: |
Mammalia |
|
Order: |
Rodentia |
|
Family: |
Muridae |
|
Genus: |
Mus |
|
Species: |
Mus musculus |
But why are they classified this way?
Eukarya: Characterized by having cells with a
true nucleus and organelles. The DNA in eukaryotes is also
linear.
Animalia: Characterized by being multicellular,
most are motile, and most are heterotrophs.
Chordata: Characterized by a notochord, a
dorsal nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, an endostyle, and a
post-anal tail.
Mammalia: Characterized by mammary glands,
sweat glands, hair, middle ear bones, most have live births,
specialized teeth, and a circulatory system controlled by a
neocortex.
Rodentia: Characterized as having two
continuously growing incisors in upper and lower jaws that the
animal keeps short by gnawing.
Muridae: Characterized as having a long tail,
small slender body, pointed snouts, good hearing and smell, and
large whiskers.
Now for some fun with phylogenetic trees!
Yes, this phylogenetic tree does look a bit intimidating, but it's not too tough once you get the hang of it.
Brown: The brown color represents the order Rodentia in which the species Mus musculus belongs.
Blue: The blue color represents different families of rodents. In this case, all four families branch in similar manners because they are all of the same suborder, Myomorpha and also of the same super family Muroidea.
Pink: The pink color represents two different genus of the Muridae family. They are the only two species, Mus and Muriculus in the subfamily included in the tree, Murinae.
Orange: The orange color represents four different species of the Mus genus. All of these species are part of the subgenus Mus.
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Note: This is not a phylogenetic tree complete with all possible choices in each category.