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Lemmiscus curtatus

From WhiskerWiki

Sagebrush Vole
(Lemmiscus curtatus)
Range
Taxonomic classification
Order:Rodentia
Suborder:Supramyomorpha
Infraorder:Myomorphi
Superfamily:Muroidea
Family:Cricetidae
Subfamily:Arvicolinae
Tribe:Microtini
Genus:Lemmiscus
Binomial details
Lemmiscus curtatus (Cope, 1868)

Description

From Armstrong et al. (2010): "The sagebrush vole is a small, distinctly short-tailed vole with dense, long, soft pelage. The dorsal pelage is buff-gray to gray with the sides paler in color. The venter is buff to silver-gray and the tail is indistinctly bicolored. Hairs are dark gray at their bases. The tail is well haired by short, only about as long as the hindfoot. The ears are small, averaging slightly more than half the length of the hindfoot. The posterior soles of the feet are well haired."

From Verts & Carraway (1998): "The long, soft, and dense dorsal pelage is grayish tan; the bases of the hairs are lead colored and the tips are black. The ventral pelage is pale buff, the feet light gray, and tail slightly bicolored. The soles of the feet are densely furred posteriorly. Most adults possess six plantar tubercles, but a few adults and many juveniles possess only five (Johnston et al., 1948)." Additionally, "the tail does not exceed the length of the hind feet by >10 mm."

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) 108–140 15–26 15–18 20–30
Colorado Armstrong et al. (2010) 100–142 16–30 14–18 9–16 17–38
North Dakota Seabloom et al. (2020) 115 19 17 10 25


Skull

From Armstrong et al. (2010): "The skull is generally similar to that of other arvicolines but has well-developed auditory bullae that extend back beyond the occipital condyles and hense are readily visible from above. The last upper and lower molars typically have only 4 dentines lakes, compared with the 5 present in other arvicolines in Colorado. The pattern of the lakes consists of anterior and posterior loops separated by 2 more or less triangular-shaped prisms. The inner and outer reentrant angles are about in equal in depth. The molars are ever-growing."

From Verts & Carraway (1998): "The auditory bullae extend beyond the occiput, the molars are unrooted and ever-growing, M3 has three loops of enamel on the lingual side, and m3 consists of four prisms."

Placeholder image
Image(s) coming soon. We are currently imaging this skull.

References

Armstrong DM, Fitzgerald JP, Meaney CA. 2010. Mammals of Colorado, Second Edition. Denver (CO, USA): University Press of Colorado.

Cope ED. 1868-06-08. E. D. Cope made some observations on some specimens of Vertebrata presented by Wm. M. Gabb, of San Francisco. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 20(1):2.

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

Seabloom R, Hoganson JW, Jensen WF. 2020. The mammals of North Dakota. Fargo (ND, USA): North Dakota State University Press.

Verts BJ, Carraway LN. 1998. Land mammals of Oregon. Berkeley (CA, USA): University of California Press.

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