Harvest wood mouse
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Harvest wood mouse ( Apodemus uralensis ) |
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| Apodemus uralensis | ||||||||||||
| ( Pallas , 1811) |
The harvest wood mouse ( Apodemus uralensis ) is a rodent in the subfamily of Old World mice that is found in Eurasia . The taxon was considered a subspecies of the common wood mouse ( Apodemus sylvaticus ) for a long time . Due to several molecular biological and morphological studies in the 1990s and early 2000s, the smaller form is recognized as a species in current taxonomic works . For western populations of this form, the scientific name Apodemus microps was temporarily used, which is now a junior synonym .
features
The dwarf wood mouse reaches a head-trunk length of 85 to 102 mm, a tail length of 64 to 97 mm and a weight of 12 to 26 g. It has 17 to 22 mm long hind feet and 14 to 16 mm long ears. While the fur on the upper side is described as gray-brown without yellow for western populations, specimens with a light, sandy-colored or red-brown upper side can occur in Asian populations. In all populations there is a clear border to the white underside with a light gray shimmer. Furthermore, the tail is divided into a brown top and a whitish bottom. The dwarf wood mouse has white upper surfaces on the hands and feet. Occasionally there is a throat patch that differs from the surrounding fur.
distribution
The distribution area extends over large parts of Eurasia with the delimitation in southern and eastern areas not yet clearly clarified. The western border stretches from the Baltic States via Poland , eastern Germany , the Czech Republic , Austria east of Vienna, Hungary , eastern Croatia , eastern areas of Serbia and Montenegro to Bulgaria (the largest possible extent is not confirmed in all treatises). In the south, the dwarf wood mouse occurs in northern Turkey , in the Caucasus region and in Kyrgyzstan . It reaches north-west China and the Altai in the east .
This rodent lives preferentially in the lowlands or in the hill country up to 400 meters height. However, it can reach an altitude of 1400 meters in the Carpathian Mountains and 3000 meters in the Asian mountains. The dwarf wood mouse prefers to live in semi-open or open landscapes and avoid central areas of forests. It can be found at the edges of the forest, in open forest areas with dense undergrowth, on meadows and fields close to the forest or on other cultivated areas. In arid regions she looks for the proximity of watercourses.
Way of life
Behavioral descriptions are primarily available for European populations.
The dwarf wood mouse stays mainly on the ground. It is crepuscular or nocturnal between spring and autumn and sleeps in underground burrows during the day. These lie just below the surface in the warm months and are dug themselves or taken over by other animals such as field mice or moles . Often the burrows of several specimens are close together and territories of males overlap with territories of several females. The habitat of the dwarf wood mouse is less pronounced than that of most other wood mice. Self-dug burrows are simply constructed with a main passage, a chamber and an escape passage. In addition to this burrow, the dwarf wood mouse can hide in natural holes in the ground or in short-term burrows.
In winter construction, the deepest areas can be 1.5 meters below the ground. The central chamber is insulated with leaves and grass and filled with food supplies. A female with her young and a male can share this winter burrow.
After winter, the diet consists mainly of invertebrates such as insects , earthworms, woodlice and spiders . When the development of the plants has advanced, the dwarf wood mouse switches to a vegetarian diet. In summer it mainly eats seeds, fruits, grasses, flowers, nectar and pollen . In autumn the food consists mainly of fruits, while seeds are carried into the winter burrow as a supply. In addition to this reserve, the harvest mouse eats roots and tubers or other plant parts that it finds under the blanket of snow in winter.
The dwarf wood mouse has one litter in spring and one litter at the beginning of autumn. The number of offspring per litter is usually between 2 and 4. Young animals from the first litter reach sexual maturity after two months, while the offspring from the second litter are only able to reproduce after winter.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b 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, Apodemus uralensis ).
- ↑ a b c d Andrew T. Smith et al. (2010) Herb Field Mouse . In. A Guide to the Mammals of China , Princeton University Press, p. 256
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Blatt, C. & Resch, S. (2017): Zwergwaldmaus - Apodemus uralensis . In: Internet handbook on small mammal species in Central Europe: body characteristics, ecology and distribution. kleinsaeuger.at, Salzburg.
- ↑ a b c d Apodemus uralensis in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2016 Posted by: Krystufek, B., Sozen, M. & Bukhnikashvili, A., 2016. Accessed September 17, 2017th
