Eastern deer mouse

Eastern deer mouse
In Schoolcraft County, Michigan

Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Cricetidae
Subfamily: Neotominae
Genus: Peromyscus
Species:
P. maniculatus
Binomial name
Peromyscus maniculatus
(J. A. Wagner, 1845)

Peromyscus maniculatus, the eastern deermouse, is a rodent native to eastern North America. It is a species of the genus Peromyscus, a closely related group of New World mice often called "deermice". When formerly grouped with the western deermouse (P. sonoriensis), it was once referred to as the North American deermouse, a species which is no longer recognized. It is fairly widespread across most of North America east of the Mississippi River, with the major exception being the lowland southeastern United States.

Like certain other Peromyscus species, it can be a vector and carrier of emerging infectious diseases such as hantaviruses and Lyme disease.

It is closely related to Peromyscus leucopus, the white-footed mouse.