Comments: | Arvicolini. Nowhere are the explosiveness and recency of arvicoline evolution more dramatically highlighted than by the inconsistency of systematic treatment of genus-group taxa to be subsumed by Microtus. Little consensus exists concerning the morphological limits or monophyly of many of these taxa, a situation that partly reflects the overly narrow reliance of our classifications on dental characters undergoing rapid change (see Guthrie, 1971; Koenigswald, 1980). The recency of speciation is another contributory factor—Conroy and Cook (2000a) dated the major pulse of diversification within Microtus as only 1.3 million years ago. See accounts of Blanfordimys, Chionomys, Lasiopodomys, Neodon, Phaiomys, and Proedromys, often included in Microtus but which are here treated as genera. North American forms revised by Bailey (1900) and taxonomy updated by Hall and Cockrum (1953) and Hall (1981); many aspects of anatomy, paleontology, taxonomy, and zoogeography covered in Tamarin (1985). See R. A. Martin (1995) for comments on the usage of Pedomys and Pitymys as subgenera of Microtus and classification of fossil forms. The more diverse Palearctic fauna is covered in several comprehensive synopses (Corbet, 1978c; Gromov and Erbajeva, 1995; Gromov and Polyakov, 1977; Meyer et al., 1996; Mitchell-Jones et al., 1999; Niethammer and Krapp, 1982a; Ognev, 1963b, 1964; Pavlinov et al., 1995a). See Pozdnyakov (1996) for summary of morphological and chromosomal variation within the subgenus Alexandromys and arrangement of species groups. Fossil Microtus are known from the late Pliocene of Eurasia and North America (Chaline et al., 1999; McKenna and Bell, 1997; Repenning, 1992; Van der Muelen, 1978). The genus is generally thought to have been derived from the Pliocene Allophaiomys, either directly for some North American and European species (Chaline et al., 1999; Repenning, 1992) or indirectly through a morphological intermediate similar to Lasiopodomys (Repenning, 1992); Kotlia (1994), on the other hand, suggested direct descent from the Pliocene Mimomys in S Asia. The Holarctic distribution of Microtus (see map in Gromov and Erbajeva, 1995) has spawned two principal scenarios of zoogeographic interpretation. The traditional notion has emphasized multiple intercontinental dispersals and broad transcontinental distributions of subgenera, a viewpoint more often propounded by paleontologists (R. A. Martin, 1974, 1987; Repenning, 1980, 1983, 1992, 1998; Repenning et al., 1990; Van der Muelen, 1978). An alternative hypothesis stresses one or two intercontinental dispersions and extensive regional cladogenesis; such a viewpoint has gained more credence, emerging from studies of allozymes (Chaline and Graf, 1988; Graf, 1982; Moore and Janecek, 1990), chromosomes (Zagorodnyuk, 1990), mitochondrial DNA (Conroy and Cook, 1999, 2000a; Conroy et al., 2001), and fossils (Brunet-Lecomte and Chaline, 1991, 1992; Chaline, 1974; Chaline et al., 1999; Kryštufek et al., 1996; R. A. Martin, 1995). According to these collective results, pitymyine forms in the Old World (Terricola) differentiated independently of those in the New World (Pedomys, Pitymys); New World common voles (Mynomes) are cladistically separated from Old World subgenera such as Microtus proper, Alexandromys, and Agricola; and the invasion of the New World semiaquatic niche is recognized (subgenus Aulacomys) as independent of the Old World water‑vole radiation (genus Arvicola). See especially Conroy and Cook (2000a) for review of these hypotheses and comments on taxonomy and biogeography. |
Offspring: SPECIES abbreviatus SPECIES californicus SPECIES chrotorrhinus SPECIES guatemalensis SPECIES longicaudus SPECIES mexicanus SPECIES miurus SPECIES richardsoni SPECIES umbrosus SPECIES xanthognathus SUBGENUS Microtus SPECIES agrestis SPECIES anatolicus SPECIES arvalis SPECIES cabrerae SPECIES dogramacii SPECIES guentheri SPECIES ilaeus SPECIES irani SPECIES levis SPECIES paradoxus SPECIES qazvinensis SPECIES schidlovskii SPECIES socialis SPECIES tatricus SPECIES transcaspicus SUBGENUS Terricola SPECIES bavaricus SPECIES brachycercus SPECIES daghestanicus SPECIES duodecimcostatus SPECIES felteni SPECIES gerbei SPECIES liechtensteini SPECIES lusitanicus SPECIES majori SPECIES multiplex SPECIES savii SPECIES schelkovnikovi SPECIES subterraneus SPECIES thomasi SUBGENUS Mynomes SPECIES breweri SPECIES canicaudus SPECIES montanus SPECIES oregoni SPECIES pennsylvanicus SPECIES townsendii SUBGENUS Alexandromys SPECIES clarkei SPECIES evoronensis SPECIES fortis SPECIES kikuchii SPECIES limnophilus SPECIES maximowiczii SPECIES middendorffii SPECIES mongolicus SPECIES montebelli SPECIES mujanensis SPECIES oeconomus SPECIES sachalinensis SUBGENUS Stenocranius SPECIES gregalis SUBGENUS Pitymys SPECIES oaxacensis SPECIES pinetorum SPECIES quasiater SUBGENUS Pedomys SPECIES ochrogaster | Synonyms:
Agricola Blasius, 1857 Ammomys Bonaparte, 1831 Arbusticola Shidlovsky, 1919 Arvalomys Chaline, 1974 Aulacomys Rhoads, 1894 Bicunedens Hodgson, 1863 Campicola Schulze, 1890 Campicoloma Strand, 1928 Chilotus Baird, 1857 Euarvicola Acloque, 1899 Herpetomys Merriam, 1898 Iberomys Chaline, 1972 Isodelta Cope, 1871 Meridiopitymys Chaline, 1974 Micrurus Major, 1877 Oecomicrotus Rabeder, 1981 Orthriomys Merriam, 1898 Pallasiinus Kretzoi, 1964 Parapitymys Chaline, 1978 Pinemys Lesson, 1836 Psammomys Le Conte, 1830 Steneocranius Trouessart, 1904 Sumeriomys Argyropulo, 1933 Suranomys Chaline, 1972 Sylvicola Fatio, 1867 Tetramerodon Rhoads, 1894 Tibercola Koenigswald, Fejfar, and Tchernov, 1992 Tyrrhenicola Major, 1905
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