Calabria Pine Vole – Microtus brachycercus

Microtus brachycercusLehmann, 1961

Accepted name, Mammal Species of the World 2005

Subgenus Terricola, savii species group (Chaline et al., 1988; Zagorodnyuk, 1990). Initially described as a subspecies of M. savii (Lehmann, 1961) and usually retained in that species (Corbet, 1978c; Krapp, 1982c; Krapp and Winking, 1976; Mitchell-Jones et al., 1999; Pavlinov et al., 1995a). Karyotype of samples from Calabrian region is similar to those from elsewhere on the Italian Peninsula and Sicily (2n = 54), but the X chromosome is larger and submetacentric (small metacentric in M. savii) and the Y is twice the size (Galleni et al., 1992, 1998; Niethammer, 1981). F1 hybrids obtained between savii and brachycercus, but F2 offspring were not produced because F1 males are sterile; those data, the gonosomal differences, and morphological traits (Lehmann, 1961) prompted Galleni et al. (1994, 1998) to recognize brachycercus as a species endemic to the Calabrian Peninsula of S Italy.

• Wilson, D and Reeder, D. (eds.) 2005. Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. 3rd ed. -- 2142 pp. Johns Hopkins University Press.