Bank voles
| Bank voles | ||||||||||||
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Bank vole ( Myodes glareolus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Myodes | ||||||||||||
| Pallas , 1811 |
The bank voles ( Myodes ) are a genus of voles , which are characterized by the reddish sheen of the otherwise gray fur on the upper side. The shimmer disappears on the flanks, the underside is finally gray or white depending on the species. Bank voles are distinguished from the structurally very similar field mice ( Microtus ) by their slightly larger ears and eyes and a tail end tassel.
All bank voles inhabit the temperate and cold climates. They can be found in forests in the temperate zone, north of which the tundra is also their habitat.
According to Mammal Species of the World (2005) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the following species belong to the genus, including two species of Japanese bank voles, which were originally placed in a separate genus, Phaulomys .
- Anderson bank vole ( Myodes andersoni ), Honshū
- Western bank vole ( Myodes californicus ), Oregon , northern California
- Tianshan bank vole ( Myodes centralis ), Altai , Tianshan
- North American bank vole ( Myodes gapperi ), southern Canada , northern USA
- Bank vole ( Myodes glareolus ), Europe, West and Central Asia
- Imaizumi bank vole ( Myodes imaizumii )
- Korean bank vole ( Myodes regulus ), Korea
- Hokkaido bank vole ( Myodes rex ), Hokkaidō
- Gray bank vole ( Myodes rufocanus ), Northern Europe, Northern Asia
- Polar oyster vole ( Myodes rutilus ), tundras of Northern Europe, Siberia and Alaska
- Shanxi bank vole ( Myodes shanseius )
- Sikotan bank vole ( Myodes sikotanensis ), three islands of the Kuril Islands : Sikotan, Daikoku, Rishiri
- Japanese bank vole or Smith bank vole ( Myodes smithii ), Japan (without Hokkaidō )
According to molecular genetic analyzes by Cook, Runck and Conroy, the bank vole genus is likely to be paraphyletic with regard to the mountain voles ( Alticola ) and the Père David voles ( Eothenomys ), so it does not form a closed community of descent.
Bank voles were traditionally carried under the scientific names Evotomys and Clethrionomys . However, Myodes is the older name, which was not used for a long time because it was considered a junior synonym of Lemmus ( lemmings ). The zoologists Musser and Carleton examined the nomenclature history of the genus in 2003 and came to the conclusion that Myodes was the valid name for this genus. Clethrionomys is therefore an invalid junior synonym.
Bank voles represent a reservoir for hantaviruses .
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 2 volumes. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD et al. 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
- MD Carleton, GG Musser, L. Ya. Pavlinov: Myodes Pallas, 1811, is the valid name for the genus of red-backed voles. In: AO Averianov and NI Abramson (Eds.): Systematics, Phylogeny and Paleontology of Small Mammals. An International Conference Devoted to the 90th Anniversary of Prof. IM Gromov. Proceedings of the Zoological Institute, Saint Petersburg 2003, pp. 96-98, online (PDF; 1.07 MB) .
- Joseph Cook, Amy Runck, Chris Conroy: Historical biogeography at the crossroads of the northern continents: molecular phylogenetics of red-backed voles (Rodentia: Arvicolinae). In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. Vol. 30, No. 3, 2004, ISSN 1055-7903 , pp. 767-777, doi : 10.1016 / S1055-7903 (03) 00248-3 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Ed.): Mammal Species of the World . A taxonomic and geographic Reference . 3. Edition. 2 volumes. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 (English, Myodes ).
