Alticola

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Mountain voles
Temporal range: Pleistocene to Recent
Stoliczka's mountain vole.jpg
Alticola stoliczkanus
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Cricetidae
Subfamily: Arvicolinae
Tribe: Clethrionomyini
Genus: Alticola
Blanford, 1881
Type species
Arvicola stoliczkanus
Blanford, 1875
Species

See article text

Alticola, also known as mountain voles, is a genus of rodent in the family Cricetidae. [1] Their fur are pale ash-brown. They prefer environments of high elevation (often in remote and extreme habitats) being widely distribution across the mountains of Central Asia being found in steppe, rocky montane, and alpine forests. [2]

Contents

They are one of the least known groups of voles in evolutionary and life history.

Taxonomy

They appear to be a sister genus to Myodes (red-backed voles) based on morphological similarities. However molecular analyses is unstable to confirm this due incomplete sampling of specimens and the uncertain taxonomic placement of the genera Craseomys and Phaulomys . Phaulomys is a junior synonym of Craseomys with Alticola and Myodes being separate genera. [3] It is also closely related to Eothenomys . [3]

Species

The following species are assigned to the genus: [4]

References

  1. ↑ Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN   978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC   62265494.
  2. ↑ Tang, Ming Kun; Qiu, Hong; Peng, Bu Qing; Liao, Rui; Murphy, Robert W.; Wang, Xu Ming; Pan, Xuan; Wang, Xin; Liu, Shao Ying (2025-12-03). "A new species of Alticola (Mammalia, Rodentia, Arvicolinae) from southern Tibet, China". Zoosystematics and Evolution. 101 (4): 2387–2403. doi:10.3897/zse.101.170704. ISSN   1860-0743.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  3. 1 2 Tang, Ming Kun; Jin, Wei; Tang, Ying; Yan, Chao Chao; Murphy, Robert W.; Sun, Zhi Yu; Zhang, Xiu Yue; Zeng, Tao; Liao, Rui; Hou, Quan Fen; Yue, Bi Song; Liu, Shao Ying (2018). "Reassessment of the taxonomic status of Craseomys and three controversial species of Myodes and Alticola (Rodentia: Arvicolinae)". Zootaxa. 4429 (1): 1–52. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4429.1.1. ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   30313278.
  4. ↑ Mammal Diversity Database (2023). "Mammal Diversity Database (Version 1.11) [Data set]". Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7830771.


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