| Northern red-backed vole | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Cricetidae |
| Subfamily: | Arvicolinae |
| Genus: | Clethrionomys |
| Species: | C. rutilus |
| Binomial name | |
| Clethrionomys rutilus (Pallas, 1779) | |
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| Geographic range | |
The northern red-backed vole (Clethrionomys rutilus) is a small slender vole found in Alaska, northern Canada, Scandinavia and northern Russia. [2]
They have short slender bodies with a rust-colored back, light brown sides and underparts and a short thick tail. Their short ears are visible through their fur. They are 14 cm long with a 3.5 cm tail and weigh about 30 to 40 g. Their dental formula is 1/1, 0/0, 0/0, 3/3. [3] They are active year-round, usually at night. They can cause damage to fruit trees and stored grains.
Northern red-backed voles live in a variety of northern forest and shrubland habitats. [2] [4] They occur in every major forest type in central Alaska. [5] Plant species commonly found in areas occupied by northern red-backed voles include black spruce ( Picea mariana ), white spruce ( Picea glauca ), quaking aspen ( Populus tremuloides ), paper birch ( Betula papyrifera ), alder (Alnus spp.), willow (Salix spp.), mountain cranberry ( Vaccinium vitis-idaea ), blueberry and bilberry (Vaccinium spp.), bunchberry ( Cornus canadensis ), and a variety of grasses and forbs. Important fungi, mosses and lichens include truffle (Endogone fascilulata), Schreber's moss ( Pleurozium schreberi ), mountain fern moss ( Hylocomium splendens ), sphagnum (Sphagnum spp.), and lichens (Cladonia and Peltigera spp.). [5] [6]
The breeding season of northern red-backed voles generally extends from May to August. Females are polyestrous and produce two or three litters during the breeding season. The first litter is produced in late May or early June. [2]
Litter size ranges from four to nine. The average litter size is 5.93. [2] Young northern red-backed voles are unable to regulate their temperature successfully until about 18 days. At this time they are weaned and leave the nest. Young grow little during the winter because of low food supplies. Age of sexual maturity depends to some extent on time of birth. About 20% of females from the first litter breed during the summer of birth. The remaining 80%, and later litters, breed the following May. [2] Martell and Fuller [7] found that the onset of summer breeding was related to the time of snowmelt. A late spring was followed by a low rate of maturation of young-of-the-year females. [7]
In dense populations of northern red-backed voles, sexual maturation of young females may be delayed, or they may migrate to a vacant breeding space. [8]
Northern red-backed voles are mainly nocturnal and crepuscular, but remain active whenever necessary during the prolonged arctic daylight season. [2]
Northern red-backed voles are commonly found in northern shrub vegetation or open taiga forests. They also inhabit tundra. [2] [5] [7] Northern red-backed voles are abundant on early successional sites as well as in mature forests. [5] They occasionally inhabit rock fields and talus slopes. [2]
Northern red-backed voles use surface runways through the vegetation as travel corridors. Nests are built in short burrows or under some protective object such as a rock or root. [2] Northern red-backed voles are active all winter and construct long tunnels under the snow. Winter nests typically are placed on the ground among thick moss. [2] [5] Northern red-backed voles frequently invade houses during the winter. [2]
Northern red-backed voles inhabit areas that contain dense ground cover for protection from weather and predation. [5] [9] On the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in south-central Alaska, the presence of northern red-backed voles was positively correlated with protective cover. [6] During the winter, northern red-backed voles use layers of thick moss or matted vegetation as thermal cover. [5] [10] During the mid-winter months in a spruce forest of central Alaska, all northern red-backed voles on a control area aggregated in a small area of thick moss cover, despite abundant food resources elsewhere on the trapping grid. [5]
Northern red-backed voles eat the leaves, buds, twigs and berries of numerous shrubs; they also eat forbs, fungi, mosses, lichens, and occasionally insects. [2] [5] [6] Berries are generally the major food item in the diet of northern red-backed voles and are eaten whenever available. In central Alaska, West [5] found that northern red-backed voles relied heavily upon the fruits of several berry-producing plants during all seasons. These included bog blueberry (Vaccinium uliginosum), mountain cranberry, black crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), comandra (Comandra livida), and bunchberry. Northern red-backed voles primarily ate berries during the fall and winter. Lichens were consumed only during the winter and spring. In early summer, when berries are not available, mosses were eaten. The mid- to late summer diet of northern red-backed voles also included a large proportion of mosses, although berries were still the primary food. [5]
Northern red-backed voles on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge fed during the summer on berries of species such as mountain cranberry and bunchberry. They also ate fungi, succulent green plants, and insects. As fungi became plentiful late in the summer, they made up a large percentage of the diet. Mountain cranberry consumption declined as the summer progressed even though berry abundance increased. This suggests that fungi were preferred over mountain cranberries. The amount of truffle in the diet remained constant throughout the summer. [6]
Some predators of northern red-backed voles include American marten (Martes americana), Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), raccoon (Procyon lotor), stoat (Mustela erminea), snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus), coyote (Canis latrans), [9] [11] [12] and probably most other predators of small mammals that occur within the range of northern red-backed voles. In Alaska, northern red-backed voles and voles (Microtus spp.) comprised 74% of the diet of American martens in the summer and 68% of the diet during the winter. [12]
Voles are small rodents that are relatives of lemmings and hamsters, but with a stouter body; a longer, hairy tail; a slightly rounder head; smaller eyes and ears; and differently formed molars. They are sometimes known as meadow mice or field mice in North America.
The Arvicolinae are a subfamily of rodents that includes the voles, lemmings, and muskrats. They are most closely related to the other subfamilies in the Cricetidae. Some authorities place the subfamily Arvicolinae in the family Muridae along with all other members of the superfamily Muroidea. Some refer to the subfamily as the Microtinae or rank the taxon as a full family, the Arvicolidae.
The American marten, also known as the American pine marten, is a species of North American mammal, a member of the family Mustelidae. The species is sometimes referred to as simply the pine marten. The name "pine marten" is derived from the common name of the distinct Eurasian species, martes martes. Martes americana is found throughout Canada, Alaska, and parts of the northern United States. It is a long, slender-bodied weasel, with fur ranging from yellowish to brown to near black. It may be confused with the fisher, but the marten is lighter in color and smaller. Identification of the marten is further eased by a characteristic bib that is a distinctly different color than the body. Sexual dimorphism is pronounced, with males being much larger.
The eastern meadow vole, sometimes called the field mouse or meadow mouse, is a North American vole found in eastern Canada and the United States. Its range extends farther south along the Atlantic coast.
The tundra vole or root vole is a medium-sized vole found in Northern and Central Europe, Asia, and northwestern North America, including Alaska and northwestern Canada. In the western part of the Netherlands, the tundra vole is a relict from the ice age and has developed into the subspecies Alexandromys oeconomus arenicola.
Clethrionomys is a genus of small, slender voles. In recent years the genus name was changed to Myodes, however a 2019 paper found that Myodes was actually a junior synonym for Lemmus, thus making it unusable. As such, Clethrionomys is re-established as the proper genus name. At the same time, several species were moved to the genus Craseomys, so members of both genera are referred to as red-backed voles. This genus was described by Johannes von Nepomuk Franz Xaver Gistel under the pseudonym "G. Tilesius". Some authors cite the taxonomic authority as "Gistel, 1850", whereas others still use "Tilesius, 1850".
The southern red-backed vole or Gapper's red-backed vole is a small slender vole found in Canada and the northern United States. It is closely related to the western red-backed vole, which lives to the south and west of its range and which is less red with a less sharply bicolored tail.
The taiga vole is a large vole found in northwestern North America, including Alaska and northwestern Canada. The name "taiga vole" comes from its living in the boreal taiga zone. It is also sometimes called the yellow-cheeked vole or chestnut-cheeked vole because of the rusty-yellow color on its face around its vibrisae (whiskers); The taiga voles derive their name from these features: "xantho" is Greek for yellow and "gnathus" is Greek for jaw. It is typically much larger than most other North American voles, especially those from the genus Microtus.
The singing vole, is a medium-sized vole found in northwestern North America, including Alaska and northwestern Canada.
The rock vole, also known as the yellow-nosed vole, is a medium-sized species of vole found in eastern North America.
The genus Phenacomys is a group of North American voles. The genus name comes from the Greek for "imposter mouse."
The short-tailed field vole, short-tailed vole, or simply field vole is a grey-brown vole, around 10 cm in length, with a short tail. It is one of the most common mammals in Europe, with a range extending from the Atlantic coast to Lake Baikal. These voles are found in moist grassy habitats, such as woodland, marsh or on river banks. Although they make shallow burrows, they usually build nests above ground. They are an important food source for owls and some other predators and their population size tends to peak and trough cyclically. Field voles breed prolifically, mainly in summer, but often all year round, even under snow. Females produce up to seven litters a year, each averaging from four to six young which are weaned after about fourteen days. The short-tailed field vole is both widespread and common and is listed as being of "Least Concern" by the IUCN.
The bank vole is a small vole with red-brown fur and some grey patches, with a tail about half as long as its body. A rodent, it lives in woodland areas and is around 100 millimetres (3.9 in) in length. The bank vole is found in much of Europe and in northwestern Asia. It is native to Great Britain but not to Ireland, where it has been accidentally introduced, and has now colonised much of the south and southwest.
The genus Lemmus contains several species of lemming sometimes referred to as the true lemmings. They are distributed throughout the Holarctic, particularly in the Palearctic.
The grey red-backed vole or the grey-sided vole is a species of vole. An adult grey red-backed vole weighs 20-50 grams. This species ranges across northern Eurasia, including northern China, the northern Korean Peninsula, and the islands of Sakhalin and Hokkaidō. It is larger and longer-legged than the northern red-backed vole, which covers a similar range and it is also sympatric with the Norwegian lemming.
The western red-backed vole is a species of vole in the family Cricetidae. It is found in California and Oregon in the United States and lives mainly in coniferous forest. The body color is chestnut brown, or brown mixed with a considerable quantity of black hair gradually lightening on the sides and grading into a buffy-gray belly, with an indistinct reddish stripe on the back and a bicolored tail about half as long as the head and body.
The montane vole is a species of vole native to the western United States and Canada.
The Canadian Arctic tundra is a biogeographic designation for Northern Canada's terrain generally lying north of the tree line or boreal forest, that corresponds with the Scandinavian Alpine tundra to the east and the Siberian Arctic tundra to the west inside the circumpolar tundra belt of the Northern Hemisphere.
This article incorporates public domain material from Myodes rutilus. United States Department of Agriculture.
