Microtus (Microtus) agrestis
Creators: name: Wilson, Don E.
name: Reeder, DeeAnn
Publisher: name: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Year: 2005
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Rodentia
Cricetidae
Microtus
Microtus agrestis

description: Microtus (Microtus) agrestis (Linnaeus 1761)
[Mus] agrestis Linnaeus 1761, Fauna Suecica, 2nd ed.: 11.
Type Locality: Sweden, Uppsala.
Vernacular Names: Field Vole.
Synonyms: Microtus (Microtus) agrestoides Hinton 1910; Microtus (Microtus) angustifrons (Fatio 1905); Microtus (Microtus) arcturus Thomas 1912; Microtus (Microtus) argyropoli Ognev 1944; Microtus (Microtus) argyropuli Ognev 1950; Microtus (Microtus) argyropuloi Ognev 1952; Microtus (Microtus) armoricanus Heim de Balsac and Beaufort 1966; Microtus (Microtus) bailloni (de Sélys Longchamps 1841); Microtus (Microtus) britannicus (de Sélys Longchamps 1847); Microtus (Microtus) bucklandii (Giebel 1847); Microtus (Microtus) carinthiacus Kretzoi 1958; Microtus (Microtus) enez-groezi Heim de Balsac and Beaufort 1966; Microtus (Microtus) estiae Reinwaldt 1927; Microtus (Microtus) exsul Miller 1908; Microtus (Microtus) fiona Montagu 1922; Microtus (Microtus) gregarius (Linneaus 1766); Microtus (Microtus) hirta (Bellamy 1839); Microtus (Microtus) insul Lydekker 1909; Microtus (Microtus) insularis (Nilsson 1844); Microtus (Microtus) intermedia (Bonaparte 1845); Microtus (Microtus) latifrons (Fatio 1905); Microtus (Microtus) levernedii (Crespon 1844); Microtus (Microtus) luch Barrett-Hamilton and Hinton 1913; Microtus (Microtus) macgillivrayi Barrett-Hamilton and Hinton 1913; Microtus (Microtus) mial Barrett-Hamilton and Hinton 1913; Microtus (Microtus) mongol Thomas 1911; Microtus (Microtus) neglectus (Jenyns 1841); Microtus (Microtus) nigra (Fatio 1869); Microtus (Microtus) nigricans (Kerr 1792); Microtus (Microtus) ognevi Scalon 1935; Microtus (Microtus) orioecus Cabrera 1924; Microtus (Microtus) pannonicus Ehik 1924; Microtus (Microtus) pallida Melander 1938; Microtus (Microtus) punctus Montagu 1923; Microtus (Microtus) rozianus (Bocage 1865); Microtus (Microtus) rufa (Fatio 1900); Microtus (Microtus) scaloni Heptner 1948; Microtus (Microtus) tridentinus Dal Piaz 1924; Microtus (Microtus) wettsteini Ehik 1928.
Distribution: Britain and nearby small islands (except Ireland); continental distribution extends from Scandinavia and Baltic region (Miljutin, 1997, 1998; Timm et al., 1998) east through Siberia to the Lena River; in the south from N and C Portugal, Pyrennes of N Spain (Brunet-Lecomte, 1991; Castiens and Gosalbez, 1992; Torre et al., 1996), France, Belgium, Netherlands (Lange, 1992), Germany (Dolch et al., 1994), Switzerland (Hausser, 1995), Austria, Czech Republic (Andĕra and Červený, 1994; Šmaha, 1996), Slovakia (Danko, 1994; Kminiak, 1996; Mošanský, 1994; Stanko, 1995; Stanko and Mošanský, 1994, 2000; Stanko et al., 2000), N Italy (Amori et al., 1999; Locatelli and Paolucci, 1996 a), Poland, Hungary, Slovenia (Kryštufek, 1991), east through N Croatia and N Bosnia and Herzegovina (Petrov, 1992), N Serbia, Romania, Ukraine, and Kazhakstan to S Urals, Altai Mtns, NW China (NW Xinjiang; Zhang et al., 1997), and Lake Baikal region (Corbet, 1978 c; Krapp and Niethammer, 1982; Mitchell-Jones et al., 1999).
Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).
Discussion: Subgenus Microtus, agrestis species group sensu Zagorodnyuk (1990). Considered a member of subgenus Microtus by Pavlinov et al. (1995 a), Gromov and Erbajeva (1995), and Meyer et al. (1996), but placed in subgenus Agricola by Zagorodnyuk (1990). Although once regarded as conspecific with North American M. pennsylvanicus on morphological grounds (Klimkiewicz, 1970), chomosomal differences indicate those similarities to represent convergence, not phylogenetic alliance (Vorontsov and Lyapunova, 1976; Zagorodnyuk, 1990). Phylogenetic inference based on cytochrome b sequences also widely separated M. agrestis from any North American Microtus (Conroy and Cook, 2000 a), and allozymic analysis isolated it by large genetic distances from nine other Eurasian Microtus sampled (Mezhzherin et al., 1993).
Distribution in Portugal, Spain and France and morphometric discrimination from other Microtus and Chionomys in the region documented by Madureira (1983). Kooij et al. (1997) employed multivariate analyses to identify dentaries extracted from owl pellets as either M. agrestis or M. arvalis; Brunet-Lecomte et al. (1996) confidently discriminated the two species based on analysis of m1s; Kapischke (1992) recognized six distinct molar surface patterns in samples from Germany. Chromosomal data reviewed by Zima and Kral (1984 a). Almaça (1993) assessed variation in pelage color, morphometrics, and dental traits among samples from N Portugal, Massif Central of France, and French lowlands and found little support for traditional subspecies but detected clinal variation between highland and lowland populations. Sequence analysis of mitochondrial DNA subdivided Eurasian M. agrestis into three allopatric clades, suggesting extended isolation in different glacial refugia (Jaarola and Searle, 2002): western (W and C Europe, spreading from the Carpathians); eastern (Lithuania to C Asia, originating from the S Urals or Caucasus); and southern (Portugal to Hungary, expanding from the Iberian Peninsula and perhaps representing a separate species).
description: Published as part of Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Cricetidae, pp. 955-1189 in Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore :The Johns Hopkins University Press on page 990, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7316535