# Southern deer mouse
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> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_deer_mouse
> Source revision: 1354142325
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{{Short description|Species of rodent}}
{{Speciesbox
| taxon = Peromyscus labecula
| image = Peromyscus_labecula_I.jpg
| authority = [Elliot](/source/Daniel_Giraud_Elliot), 1903
}}
The '''southern deermouse''' or '''southern deer mouse''' ('''''Peromyscus labecula''''') is a species of [rodent](/source/rodent) in the family [Cricetidae](/source/Cricetidae). It is a species of the genus ''[Peromyscus](/source/Peromyscus)'', a closely related group of [New World mice](/source/New_World_rats_and_mice) often called "deermice". It is found in the [United States](/source/United_States) and [Mexico](/source/Mexico).
== Taxonomy ==
The species was originally thought to be conspecific with the [North American deermouse](/source/Eastern_deer_mouse) (now eastern deermouse), ''P. maniculatus'', as ''P. m. labecula'', ''P. m. blandus'', and ''P. m. fulvus''. However, later studies found these subspecies together comprise a distinct species from ''P. maniculatus'', and they were split from ''maniculatus'' in a study published in 2019 as ''P. labecula'', which was followed by the [American Society of Mammalogists](/source/American_Society_of_Mammalogists).[{{cite journal|author=Greenbaum, I. F. |display-authors=etal|date=October 2019|title=Taxonomy and phylogenetics of the ''Peromyscus maniculatus'' species group|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336616821|journal=Special Publications, Texas Tech University|volume=71|pages=559–575}}][{{Cite mdd |title=''Peromyscus labecula'' D. G. Elliot, 1903|id=1002300|access-date=2021-06-19}}]
== Distribution ==
This species is distributed from the [Southwestern United States](/source/Southwestern_United_States) (southern [New Mexico](/source/New_Mexico) and western [Texas](/source/Texas)) south to southern [Mexico](/source/Mexico), in the state of [Oaxaca](/source/Oaxaca). In the southern portion of its range, it is [sympatric](/source/Sympatry) with the similar [black-eared mouse](/source/black-eared_mouse) (''P. melanotis'').