Ash Meadows Vole
| Ash Meadows Vole | ||||||||||||
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| Microtus montanus nevadensis | ||||||||||||
| Bailey , 1898 |
The Ash Meadows vole ( Microtus montanus nevadensis ) is a presumably extinct subspecies of the Rocky Mountains vole ( Microtus montanus ). It was described as a separate species by Vernon Orlando Bailey in 1898 and classified as a subspecies by Eugene Raymond Hall in 1935 . The holotype is a female captured in Ash Meadows by Edward William Nelson in 1891 .
features
The Ash Meadows vole reached a total length of 176 to 210 mm. The tail length was 47 to 55 mm and the hind foot length 23 to 25.5 mm. The basal length of the skull was 32 mm, the nasal length 10.2 mm, the zygomatic bone width 19.3 mm, the mastoid width and the alveolar length of the upper molar row was 8 mm. The ears were small, the tail was quite short. The fur was rough and loose. The adult males had abnormal hip glands. The skull was massive and angular. The incisor holes were narrow and narrowed back to a point. The frontal bone was high. The rostrum was curved downwards. The teeth were heavy. The upper incisors curved abruptly downward.
The fur was dark. The top was sepia or brown and often darkened with black hairs. The flanks were lighter. The belly was smoke gray. The feet were dark gray. The tail was two-colored; black on top, gray or brownish on the bottom. The lips and tip of the nose of the adults were usually whitish. The young animals had a black stripe on the back as well as a dark tail and dark feet.
status
In the spring of 1933, zoologists William B. Davis and Ward C. Russell sighted some Ash Meadows voles for the last time in an irrigation dose about 3.5 miles north of the terra typica at Watkin's Ranch. In the 1990s, the Nevada Division of Wildlife tried to trap the voles, but was unsuccessful. At the same time, this agency noted that this species is known to be difficult to catch. There are also deer passages, which could be an indication that at least a few specimens have survived. A total of 30 specimens are known in the museum collections, thirteen of them in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and 17 in the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution .
literature
- Vernon Bailey: Descriptions of eleven new species and subspecies of voles. In: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Vol. 12, 1898, ISSN 0006-324X , pp. 85-90
- E. Raymond Hall: The Mammals of North America. Volume 2. 2nd edition. Wiley, New York NY et al. 1981, ISBN 0-471-05444-5 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Richard W. Manning and Martin R. Heaney: Non-volant Mammals of Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada In: Special Publications, Museum of Texas Tech University. Number 65. Contributions in Natural History: A Memorial Volume in Honor of Clyde Jones , 2016, ISBN 978-1-929330-31-7 , pp. 90-91