Mexican Volcano Mouse - Taxonomy and Systematics

Taxonomy and Systematics

Merriam originally described the Mexican volcano mouse as one of three species in the genus Neotomodon; N. alstoni was moved to the deer mouse genus Peromyscus in 1979, then subsequently moved back to Neotomodon. Merriam does not state after whom the species is named in his original description for the genus (and species). Despite the current taxonomy, a recent phylogeny based on cytochrome-b sequences shows Peromyscus to be polyphyletic, and the authors of that paper suggest Neotomodon (and several other monotypic genera) be transferred to Peromyscus.