Tree vole
The genus Arborimus is a group of voles found in western North America. The genus name is Latin for "tree mouse".
| Tree voles | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Red tree vole, (Arborimus longicaudus) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Cricetidae |
| Subfamily: | Arvicolinae |
| Genus: | Arborimus Taylor, 1915 |
| Species | |
These animals live in forested areas and two species live in trees. They are small rodents with short ears and long legs. They are primarily herbivorous. Predators include owls and mustelids.
Some sources include this genus with the heather voles, genus Phenacomys.
Classification
The complete list of species is:
- White-footed vole (Arborimus albipes)
- Red tree vole (Arborimus longicaudus)
- California red tree mouse (Arborimus pomo)
Based on mitochondrial DNA, A. pomo and A. albipes are more closely related to one another than either are to A. longicaudus.[1][2] This is in contrast to previous suggestions of A. albipes being the most basal species in the genus.[3]
References
- Bellinger, R., S. Haig, E. Forsman, and T. Mullins. 2005. Taxonomic relationships among Phenacomys voles endemic to western United States. Journal of Mammalogy, 86:201-210.
- Blois, J. L. and B. S. Arbogast. 2006. Conservation genetics of the Sonoma Tree Vole (Arborimus pomo) based on mitochondrial and amplified fragment length polymorphism markers. Journal of Mammalogy, 87:950-960.
- Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. In Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
"Arborimus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.