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Microtus xanthognathus

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Taiga Vole
(Microtus xanthognathus)
Range
Taxonomic classification
Order:Rodentia
Suborder:Supramyomorpha
Infraorder:Myomorphi
Superfamily:Muroidea
Family:Cricetidae
Subfamily:Arvicolinae
Tribe:Microtini
Genus:Microtus
Subgenus:Pitymys
Binomial details
Microtus xanthognathus (Leach, 1815)

Description

From Conroy & Cook (1999): "Microtus xanthognathus is one of the largest species in the genus Microtus, and adults have a conspicuous rusty-yellowish color about the whisker area... In color, upper parts are dark sepia to bister and heavily lined with coarse black hairs on back. Sides of nose and ear patch are bright rusty yellowish. Venter is dusky gray. Tail is indistinctly bicolored: blackish above, dusky gray below. Body is 3.2-3.8 times as long as tail. Tail is 1.8-1.9 times as long as hind foot (Hall, 1981). Flank glands are elliptical and their size is a function of body mass (Wolff and Lidicker, 1980)."

Microtus xanthognathus observed in Alaska by Robert Weeden.

External measurements

No results found.

Skull

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Similar species

From Conroy & Cook (1999): "Taiga voles are generally larger than other North American voles of the genus Microtus. M. xanthognathus and M. chrotorrhinus are similar in color but the former is much larger. Flank glands are present as with other species in North America (e.g., M. richardsoni, M. miurus, M. abbreviatus, and M. chrotorrhinus) but distinguish M. xanthognathus from species with hip glands (e.g., M. pinetorum, M. califoricus, M. montanus, M. oeconomus, and M. townsendii) as well as from species that apparently lack sebaceous glands (e.g., M. oregoni, M. umbrosus, M. longicaudus, M. mexicanus, and M. pennsylvanicus [and presumably M. drummondii]-Quay, 1968) . A lack of cementum from the posteriormost lateral reentrant angle of the M3 distinguishes M. xanthognathus from M. richardsoni and M. pennsylvanicus (Hallberg et al., 1974). M. xanthognathus has a shorter tail and larger ears than M. richardsoni (Bailey, 1900)."

References

Bailey V. 1900. Revision of American voles of the genus Microtus. North American Fauna 17:1-88.

Conroy CJ, Cook JA. 1999. Microtus xanthognathus. Mammalian Species (627): 1-5.

Hall ER. 1981. The mammals of North America. Second edition. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Hallberg GR, Semken HA, Davis LC. 1974. Quaternary records of Microtus xanthognathus (Leach), the yellowcheeked vole, from northwestern Arkansas and southwestern Iowa. Journal of Mammalogy 55:640-645.

Quay WB. 1968. The specialized posterolateral sebaceous glandular regions in microtine rodents. Journal of Mammalogy 49:427-445.

Wolff J0, Lidicker Jr WZ. 1980. Population ecology of the taiga vole, Microtus xanthognathus, in interior Alaska. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 58:1800-1812.

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