| Bank Vole | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Cricetidae |
| Subfamily: | Arvicolinae |
| Genus: | Myodes |
| Species: | M. glareolus |
| Binomial name | |
| Myodes glareolus (Schreber, 1780) |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Clethrionomys glareolus |
|
The Bank Vole, Myodes glareolus (formerly Clethrionomys glareolus), is a small vole with red-brown fur and some grey patches, with a tail about half as long as its body. It lives in woodland areas and is around 100 millimetres (3.9 in) in length. It is found in western Europe and northern Asia. It is native to Great Britain but not to Ireland, where it has been accidentally introduced.
The bank vole lives in woodland, hedgerows and other dense vegetation such as bracken and bramble. It can live for 18 months and is omnivorous, eating insects, leaves and fruits such as raspberries and hazel nuts. It readily climbs into scrub and low branches of trees.
In areas such as mainland Great Britain where the only other small vole is the Short-tailed Vole (Microtus agrestis), it can be distinguished from that species by its more prominent ears, chestnut-brown fur and longer tail.
Bank voles live in underground chambers lined with moss, feathers and vegetable fibre. Inside the chamber they keep a store of food.
[edit] References
- ^ Amori, G., Hutterer, R., Kryštufek, B., Yigit, N., Mitsain, G., Muñoz, L.J.P., Henttonen, H., Vohralík, V., Zagorodnyuk, I., Juškaitis, R., Meinig, H. & Bertolino, S. (2008). Myodes glareolus. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 30 June 2009. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern.
- Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. pp. 894–1531 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
Ferris-Khan, R. (Ed.). 1995. The Ecology of Woodland Creation. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.
|
|||||
[edit] External links
- ARKive Photos,Video.