The Chihuahuan Grasshopper Mouse or Mearns's Grasshopper Mouse (Onychomys arenicola) is a grasshopper mouse

Grasshopper mouse

The genus Onychomys contains species commonly referred to as grasshopper mice. This is a genus of New World mouse only distantly related to the common house mouse, Mus musculus. There are three species. They are endemic to the United States and Mexico.Its behavior is rather distinct from other mice...

 found in southwestern New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

, west Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, and north-central Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. They are similar to Onychomys torridus, but differ in karyotype

Karyotype

A karyotype is the number and appearance of chromosomes in the nucleus of an eukaryotic cell. The term is also used for the complete set of chromosomes in a species, or an individual organism.p28...

 and size. The Chihuahuan Grasshopper Mouse is smaller.

They are found in semi-arid habitat, prairie

Prairie

Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...

 and scrub. They feed largely on insects and other invertebrates, including scorpion

Scorpion

Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...

s. They also feed on small muroid rodents and pocket mice.