Volemys millicens (Thomas 1911)

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Cricetidae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 955-1189 : 1039

Volemys millicens (Thomas 1911)

[Microtus] millicens Thomas 1911 , Abstr. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1911 (100): 49.

Type Locality: China, NW Sichuan, Weichoe, Si-ho River Valley, 12,000 ft (3658 m).

Vernacular Names: Sichuan Vole.

Distribution: Known only from the type locality and SE Xizang, Tibet ( Feng et al., 1986).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Detailed descriptions provided by Thomas (1911 e), G. M. Allen (1940), and Ellerman (1961); Lawrence (1982) described traits that distinguish it from V. musseri . Gromov and Polyakov (1977) provisionally allocated millicens to subgenus Neodon of Microtus . Feng et al. (1986) identified ten specimens from SE Xizang (Tibet) as millicens , although their measurements average larger than those of the type series (compare Feng et al., 1986:396, with Lawrence, 1982:16). All of the Tibetan specimens are morphologically similar to V. millescens , not V. musseri , according to Darrin Lunde (pers. comm., 2004) who examined the sample at IZAS in Beijing. The locality of millicens mapped by Zhang et al. (1997) in S Yunnan needs verification; the site is more plausible for Microtus clarkei .