35. House Mouse, Mus (Mus) musculus Linnaeus, 1758

(IUCN Red List: LC)

Subspecies: M. m. domesticus (Schwarz & Schwarz, 1943) and M. m. praetextus (Brants, 1827)

Distribution: Abundant with an extremely wide range in almost all habitats near human settlements across the country (Fig. 41).

Previous records: Damascus, Al-Qaryatein, Kafroun and Biliramun (Aharoni 1932), Tell Abiad (Misonne 1957), Tell Sheikh Hamad and Wadi Al-Ajij (Kock et al. 1994), Tell Mardiekh (Shehab et al. 1999), Busra, Qal’at Al-Hosson, Deir Khabiah, Qal’at Sheizar, Qal’at Al-Madiq, Al-Hamra, Qal’at Ja’abar, ar- Rasafah, Kasret Muhammed Ali, el-Ukersheh, Heraql, Palmyra, Halabiyyeh, Qal’at er-Rahba and es-Salihiyye (Shehab et al. 2004), Qaryatein (Shehab 2004a), Al-Mozirieb, Khrab Al-Shaham and Kharabow (Shehab 2005), Jub Al-Ghar (Shehab et al. 2006a), Yahmool (Shehab & Charabi 2006), Serghaya, Kharabow (Shehab et al. 2018), Al-Furunlok, Jabal Abd Al-Aziz (Daoud & Khalil 2009b, c).

Recent records: Jaramana, Hasia, Tell Shhab (2021).

Remarks: In the past, the Syrian populations were classified as M. m. domesticus (Schwarz & Schwarz, 1943) and M. m. praetextus (Brants, 1827), the latter described from Syria.