Dollman's Tree Mouse - Description and Natural History

Description and Natural History

This is a rather small (head and body = 60 mm) mouse with a fairly long (~100 mm) tail. The hair is short, soft, brown, and generally shrew-like. Ears are small and round. The upper incisors are narrow, ungrooved, orange, and short. The lower incisors project forward (proodont) and are sharply pointed (Denys et al., 2006; Nowak, 1999).

Denys et al. (2006) note that the coronoid process on the mandible is reduced and that the animal appears to have the ability to push its lower jaw (and thereby its incisors) strongly forward. They suggest that Dollman's Tree Mouse uses this feature to dig its burrow with its lower incisors.

Prionomys appears to feed almost exclusively on certain species of ants, particularly Tetramorium aculeatum (Denys et al., 2006). Denys et al. (2006) suggest that this unusual diet may be part of the reason that so few individuals have been captured for study. Sherman live traps baited with vegetable-derived matter may not attract this species to the same degree that it does other small rodents. In many ways Prionomys is more shrew-like in its habits. Individuals have only been obtained in pitfall traps, captured by hand, or obtained from local hunters.

Dollman's Tree Mouse is nocturnal and arboreal. Nowak (1999) suggests that the naked tip of its tail might be prehensile.