Long-tailed birch mouse

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Long-tailed birch mouse
Systematics
Subclass : Higher mammals (Eutheria)
Order : Rodents (Rodentia)
Subordination : Mouse relatives (Myomorpha)
Family : Sminthidae
Genre : Birch mice ( Sicista )
Type : Long-tailed birch mouse
Scientific name
Sicista caudata
Thomas , 1907

The long-tailed birch mouse ( Sicista caudata ) is a rodent from the genus of birch mice ( Sicista ). It occurs in northeast China as well as in southeast Russia and on the island of Sakhalin .

features

The long-tailed birch mouse reaches a head-body length of 5.9 to 6.7 centimeters and a tail length of 9.6 to 11.5 centimeters with a weight of about 18 grams. The rear foot length is 16 to 18 millimeters, the ear length about 13 millimeters. The back fur is light gray-brown with a yellowish tint, on the spine there is a dark strip of isolated black-brown hair. The sides of the body are more yellowish with a gray tinge, the abdomen is washed out white-yellow. The tail is long and monochrome yellowish-gray. The skull has a total length of 19 to 21 millimeters. The back of the skull is rounded, the zygomatic arch has its thickest point in the middle. The genome consists of 2n = 50 chromosomes .

distribution

The long-tailed birch mouse occurs in northeastern China and in southeastern Russia in the Ussuri region and on the Sakhalin island .

Way of life

There is hardly any information about the way of life of the animals. It lives in coniferous and mixed forest stands of the taiga as well as in steppe areas. The animals are nocturnal and spend most of the day in flat burrows. In the cold season, they go into hibernation that lasts at least six months. The females give birth to around four to six young animals in one litter.

Systematics

The long-tailed birch mouse is classified as an independent species within the genus of birch mice ( Sicista ), which consists of fourteen species. The first scientific description comes from Oldfield Thomas from 1907, who described the species on the basis of individuals from the island of Sakhalin near the city of Korsakow .

Status, threat and protection

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) does not list the long-tailed birch vole in a risk category due to a lack of knowledge and data on the stocks and ecology, but rather classified it as "data deficient".

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d Andrew T. Smith: Long-Tailed Birch Mouse. In: Andrew T. Smith , Yan Xie: A Guide to the Mammals of China. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 2008, ISBN 978-0-691-09984-2 , pp. 206-207.
  2. ↑ a b c Sicista caudata in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014.3. Posted by: K. Tsytsulina, 2008. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  3. ^ Sicista caudata. In: Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. 2 volumes. 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .

literature

  • Andrew T. Smith: Long-Tailed Birch Mouse. In: Andrew T. Smith , Yan Xie: A Guide to the Mammals of China. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 2008, ISBN 978-0-691-09984-2 , pp. 206-207.

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