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Arborimus albipes

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White-footed Vole
(Arborimus albipes)
Range
Taxonomic classification
Order:Rodentia
Suborder:Supramyomorpha
Infraorder:Myomorphi
Superfamily:Muroidea
Family:Cricetidae
Subfamily:Arvicolinae
Tribe:Pliophenacomyini
Genus:Arborimus
Binomial details
Arborimus albipes (Merriam, 1901)

Description

From Verts & Carraway (1995): "albipes is a moderately large, Microtus-like vole with a slender, sharply bicolored, and scantily haired tail (Merriam, 1901); the white ventral stripe is wider than the dusky dorsal stripe (Taylor, 1915). The ears are moderately large (11-13 mm) and scantily haired, sometimes nearly naked at the tip. The eyes are small. The hind feet usually are >19 mm long."

From Jameson & Peeters (2004): "A small, dark brown vole with a long, clearly bicolored tail. The venter is gray, sometimes with a pinkish cast. The snout is darker than the rest of the head. The claws are straight. Most females have four nipples, but some have up to six."

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External measurements

Length measurements are in millimeters (mm) and weight measurements are in grams (g), unless stated otherwise. If available, the sample size (n=) is provided. If a range is not provided and n= is not given, then the listed measurement represents an average.

Part of range Reference Total length Tail length Hindfoot length Ear length Mass
California Jameson & Peeters (2004) 165–181 62–71 19–20 10–12 17–28
not reported Howell (1926), compiled by Verts & Carraway (1995) males: 158–176 (n=6); females: 170–187 (n=5) males: 60–72 (n=6); females: 66–83 (n=5) males: 19–21 (n=6); females: 21–22 (n=5)


Skull

From Verts & Carraway (1995): "can be separated from other arvicoline genera in the geographic range of [Arborimus] albipes by reentrant angles on lower molars about twice as deep on the lingual as labial side. The skull of [Arborimus] albipes is recognizable from those of congeners by a combination of relatively narrow incisive foramina, M3 with three loops of enamel on the lingual side, nasals that obscure the anterior faces of the moderately recurved incisors, and deep lateral pterygoid fossae."

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Similar species

From Verts & Carraway (1995): "albipes has been described as superficially resembling Microtus longicaudus (Howell, 1926) and Clethrionomys californicus (Taylor, 1915). It may be separated from all other sympatric arvicolines by a combination of rich brownish-gray ("grizzled-bister" - Merriam, 1901:125) pelage, a tail >50 mm long and >50% of length of head and body, and light grayish or whitish feet."

Key to the species of Arborimus

References

Howell AB. 1926. Voles of the genus Phenacomys. I. Revision of the genus Phenacomys. North American Fauna, 48:1-37.

Jameson EW, Peeters HJ. 2004. Mammals of California (No. 66). Berkeley (CA, USA): University of California Press.

Merriam CH. 1901. Two new rodents from northwestern California. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 14:125-126.

Taylor WP. 1915. Description of a new subgenus (Arborimus) of Phenacomys, with a contribution to knowledge of the habits and distribution of Phenacomys longicaudus True. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Fourth Series 5:111-162 + 1 plate.

Verts BJ, Carraway LN. 1995. Phenacomys albipes. Mammalian Species (494):pp.1-5.

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