Townsend's vole

Townsend's vole
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Cricetidae
Subfamily: Arvicolinae
Genus: Microtus
Subgenus: Pitymys
Species:
M. townsendii
Binomial name
Microtus townsendii
(Bachman, 1839)[2]
Synonyms[3]
  • M. cowani Guiguet, 1955
  • M. cummingi Hall, 1936
  • M. laingi Anderson and Rand, 1943
  • Arvicola occidentalis Peale, 1848
  • M. pugeti Dalquest, 1940
  • Arvicola tetramerus Rhoads, 1894

Townsend's vole (Microtus townsendii) is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae, the sister species of M. canicaudus.[3] It is found in temperate grasslands of British Columbia in Canada and in the states of Washington and Oregon in the United States.[1][4]

Greek root words for "small ear" are the source for the genus name Microtus.[4] American naturalist and writer John Kirk Townsend collected the type specimen in 1835, which accounts for the second part of the name.[5][6]

  1. ^ a b Linzey, A.V. & Hammerson, G. (NatureServe) (2008). "Microtus townsendii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008. Retrieved 2014-10-25.
  2. ^ Bachman 1839.
  3. ^ a b Wilson & Reeder 2005.
  4. ^ a b Microtus townsendii Townsend's Vole. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
  5. ^ Cornely & Verts 1988, pp. 1–9.
  6. ^ Beolens, B.; Watkins, M.; Grayson, M. (2009-09-28). The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals. The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 416. ISBN 978-0801893049. OCLC 270129903.