Royal vole

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Royal vole
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Cricetidae
Subfamily: Arvicolinae
Genus: Craseomys
Species:
C. regulus
Binomial name
Craseomys regulus
Thomas, 1907

The royal vole (Craseomys regulus), also called the Korean red-backed vole, [2] is a species of vole endemic to the Korean Peninsula. It lives underground in a burrow, emerging at night to feed on grasses, seeds and other vegetation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed its conservation status as being of "least concern".

Contents

Taxonomy

British zoologist Oldfield Thomas first described the royal vole in 1907 as Craseomys regulus, with the type locality bein in Mingyong in South Korea, 170 km (106 mi) southeast of Seoul. It was later transferred to the genus Myodes, becoming Myodes regulus, but many authorities believed it was a subspecies of Myodes rufocanus . Myodes was later deemed a junior synonym of Lemmus and the species was returned to Craseomys. [3] It has unrooted molar teeth, a characteristic shared by the very similar Craseomys shanseius but not C. rufocanus, and molecular analysis shows that it is a distinct species. [4]

Description

This vole has a head-and-body length of about 110 mm (4.3 in) with a tail of 42 to 51 mm (1.7 to 2.0 in). An adult royal vole weighs 23 to 39 g (0.8 to 1.4 oz). The ears are large and are covered in short fur, and the body hair is fine and soft. The dorsal pelage is reddish-brown, the flanks greyish-brown and the underparts buffy-brown. The tail is bicoloured, dark above and pale beneath. Apart from the unrooted molar teeth, it can be distinguished from the grey red-backed vole by having a redder back, a more buffy (rather than greyer) underparts and a longer tail. [2]

Distribution

The royal vole is endemic to the Korean peninsula. Its range includes all the southern parts of the peninsula as far north as the southern and western edges of the Kaema Plateau, where it gives way to the grey red-backed vole (Craseomys rufocanus). It is not present in the extreme northeasterly part of North Korea. It occupies a range of habitats including mountain forests, bamboo woodland, scrub-covered hillsides, rocky slopes, rough grassland, cultivated land and river banks. [2]

Ecology

The species is mainly nocturnal, and is herbivorous, foraging for plant material including grasses and seeds. It lives underground in a large and deep tunnel system that it excavates. This includes larder chambers for storing food and a nesting chamber lined with grasses, but not latrine chambers. It is a social species, issuing alarm calls to alert others to danger. Predators include foxes, martens, weasels, raccoon dogs, owls, birds of prey and snakes. Breeding takes place three to five times a year, with three or four young being born after a gestation period of 23 days. [2]

Status

C. regulus is not facing any particular threats and is adaptable, so the International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed its conservation status as being of "least concern". [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arvicolinae</span> Subfamily of rodents

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.

<i>Clethrionomys</i> Genus of rodents

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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Singing vole</span> Species of rodent

The singing vole, is a medium-sized vole found in northwestern North America, including Alaska and northwestern Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurasian water shrew</span> Species of mammal

The Eurasian water shrew, known in the United Kingdom as the water shrew, is a relatively large shrew, up to 10 cm (4 in) long, with a tail up to three-quarters as long again. It has short, dark fur, often with a few white tufts, a white belly, and a few stiff hairs around the feet and tail. It lives close to fresh water, hunting aquatic prey in the water and nearby. Its fur traps bubbles of air in the water which greatly aids its buoyancy, but requires it to anchor itself to remain underwater for more than the briefest of dives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank vole</span> Species of rodent

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey red-backed vole</span> Species of rodent

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reed vole</span> Species of rodent

The reed vole is a species of vole. It is found in northern and central Eurasia, including northern China and the Korean Peninsula. This species is somewhat larger and longer-tailed than most other voles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western red-backed vole</span> Species of rodent

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 Hokkaido red-backed vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found at high altitudes on the island of Hokkaido in Japan and at lower altitudes on some smaller islands nearby. Its natural habitat is temperate forests.

The Ganzu vole, Eva's red-backed vole, Eva's vole, Gansu vole, or Taozhou vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in mountain forests in China. The IUCN has assessed it as being of "least concern".

The Kolan vole, Inez's red-backed vole or Inez's vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found only in China. Two subspecies have been recognized, Caryomys inez inez from the northern part of its range and Caryomys inez nux from the southern part.

The Shansei vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found only in north-central China where its habitat is forests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Narrow-headed vole</span> Species of rodent

The narrow-headed vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It was previously placed in the genus Microtus, but modern listings either lump this into genus Lasiopodomys or split it out into Stenocranius. It ranges over northern and central Asia.

Maximowicz's vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in northeastern China, Mongolia, and eastern Russia.

The Sikkim mountain vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in Bhutan, India, Nepal and China.

The Japanese red-backed vole, Wakayama red-backed vole, or Anderson's red-backed vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found only on the island of Honshu in Japan. It was first described by the British zoologist Oldfield Thomas in 1905. Thomas named it in honor of scientific collector Malcolm Playfair Anderson. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists it as "least concern".

Smith's vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is also known as Smith's red-backed vole and is found only in Japan.

The Clethrionomyini are a tribe of forest voles in the subfamily Arvicolinae. This tribe was formerly known as Myodini, but when genus Myodes was deemed to be a junior synonym, the tribe was renamed. Species in this tribe are:

Craseomys is a genus of small, slender voles.

References

  1. 1 2 Stuart, S.N. (2008). "Myodes regulus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2008. Retrieved 30 June 2009. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Jo, Yeong-Seok; Baccus, John T.; Koprowski, John L. (2018). Mammals of Korea. National Institute of Biological Resources. pp. 510–512. ISBN   978-89-6811-369-7.
  3. Mammal Diversity Database (2023). "Mammal Diversity Database (Version 1.11) [Data set]". Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7830771.
  4. Wilson & Reeder. "Myodes regulus". Mammal Species of the World. Retrieved 27 March 2019.

Bibliography