| Striped field mouse | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Genus: | Apodemus |
| Species: | A. agrarius |
| Binomial name | |
| Apodemus agrarius (Pallas, 1771) | |
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| Range of A. agrarius Resident | |
| Synonyms | |
(see text) | |
The striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius) is a rodent in the family Muridae. The range of this species stretches from Eastern Europe to Eastern Asia.
Accepted synonyms include Apodemus albostriatus (Bechstein, 1801), Apodemus caucasicus (Kuznetzov, 1944), Apodemus chejuensis (Johnson and Jones, 1955), Apodemus coreae (Thomas, 1908), Apodemus gloveri (Kuroda, 1939), Apodemus harti (Thomas, 1898), Apodemus henrici (Lehmann, 1970), Apodemus insulaemus (Tokuda, 1939 and 1941), Apodemus istrianus (Kryštufek, 1985), Apodemus kahmanni (Malec and Storch, 1963), Apodemus karelicus (Ehrström, 1914), Apodemus maculatus (Bechstein, 1801), Apodemus mantchuricus (Thomas, 1898), Apodemus nicolskii (Charlemagne, 1933), Apodemus nikolskii (Migouline, 1927), Apodemus ningpoensis (Swinhoe, 1870), Apodemus ognevi (Johansen, 1923), Apodemus pallescens (Johnson and Jones, 1955), Apodemus pallidior (Thomas, 1908), Apodemus pratensis (Ockskay, 1831), Apodemus rubens (Oken, 1816), Apodemus septentrionalis (Ognev, 1924), Apodemus tianschanicus (Ognev, 1940) and Apodemus volgensis (Kuznetzov, 1944). [2]
The upper parts of the striped field mouse are grayish brown with a rusty tint with a prominent mid-dorsal black stripe. The under parts are paler and grayish. The ears and eyes are relatively small. The body length reaches 126 mm, with a tail of up to 90 mm, and it weighs up to 50 g. [3]
The striped field mouse has an extensive but disjunct distribution, split into two ranges. The first reaches from central and eastern Europe to Lake Baikal (Russia) in the north, and China in the south. The second includes parts of the Russian Far East and from there reaches from Mongolia to Japan. Its expansion across Eastern Europe appears to be relatively recent; the species is thought to have reached Austria in the 1990s. [4]
The striped field mouse inhabits a wide range of habitats including the edges of woodlands, grasslands and marshes, pastures and gardens, and urban areas. [4] In the winter, it may be found in haystacks, storehouses, and dwellings. [3]
The striped field mouse excavates a short burrow with a nesting chamber at a shallow depth. It is nocturnal during the summer, but mainly diurnal in the winter. Its diet varies and includes green parts of plants, roots, seeds, berries, nuts, and insects. Three to five broods are born in a year with an average of six young per litter and the population can build up rapidly in a good season. Limiting factors include frequent torrential rains during a warm season, early soil freezing, and predation. [3]
The striped field mouse is a common agricultural pest within its range, particularly in years of population outbreaks, and a natural vector of diseases commonly associated with murine rodents. [3]
The yellow-necked mouse, also called yellow-necked field mouse, yellow-necked wood mouse, and South China field mouse, is closely related to the wood mouse, with which it was long confused. It was only recognised as a separate species in 1894. It differs in its band of yellow fur around the neck and in having slightly larger ears and usually being slightly larger overall. Around 100 mm in length, it can climb trees and sometimes overwinters in houses. It is found mostly in mountainous areas of southern Europe, but extends north into parts of Scandinavia and Britain. It facilitates the spread of tick-borne encephalitis to humans and is a reservoir species for the Dobrava virus, a hantavirus that is responsible for causing haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome.
The Jeju striped field mouse is a field mouse found only on Jejudo, an island in the northern East China Sea off the southwestern coast of South Korea. It was originally described in 1965 as a subspecies of Apodemus agrarius. However, a 1992 study of mitochondrial DNA found that it was in fact a separate species.
The western broad-toothed field mouse is a species of rodent in the genus Apodemus from southeastern Europe. It is related to A. mystacinus, which occurs further to the east. It is found in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
| Authority control databases: National |
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