Microtus (Terricola) duodecimcostatus de Selys-Longchamps 1839

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 : 996

Microtus (Terricola) duodecimcostatus de Selys-Longchamps 1839

Microtus (Terricola) duodecimcostatus de Selys-Longchamps 1839 , Rev. Zool. Paris: 8.

Type Locality: France, Gard, Montpellier.

Vernacular Names: Mediterranean Pine Vole.

Synonyms: Microtus (Terricola) centralis (Miller 1908) ; Microtus (Terricola) flavescens ( Cabrera 1924) ; Microtus (Terricola) fuscus (Miller 1908) ; Microtus (Terricola) ibericus (Gerbe 1854) ; Microtus (Terricola) pascuus (Miller 1911) ; Microtus (Terricola) provincialis (Miller 1909) ; Microtus (Terricola) regulus (Miller 1908) .

Distribution: S Portugal, Spain (except NW region; Brunet-Lecomte, 1991; Castiens and Gosalbez, 1992; Torre et al., 1996), and SE France.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Terricola , duodecimcostatus species group (Chaline et al., 1988; Pavlinov et al., 1995 a). Reviewed by Niethammer (1982 i) and Mitchell-Jones et al. (1999). Mathias (1996) morphometrically analyzed cranial variation within M. duodecimcostatus and compared it with M. lusitanicus ; craniometric analyses contrasting M. duodecimcostatus with M. gerbii and M. lusitanicus documented by Spitz (1978). Chromosomal data summarized by Zima and Kral (1984 a); meiotic behavior of sex chromosomes reported by Carnero et al. (1991). Garcia (1992) reported complete albinism in a population from SW Spain, the only instance of abnormal pelage coloration so far known. Presence of both M. duodecimcostatus and M. lusitanicus recorded from Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic cave sediments in central Portugal; only the latter is present in the modern fauna ( Brunet-Lecomte and Povoas, 1993). The proficient swimming ability of M. duodecimcostatus may partly explain its wide geographic distribution that spans rivers which form barriers to the dispersal of other small-bodied fossorial mammals ( Giannoni et al., 1994).