Meadow Vole – Microtus pennsylvanicus

Microtus pennsylvanicusOrd, 1815

Accepted name, Mammal Species of the World 2005

Subgenus Mynomes, pennsylvanicus species group (Zagorodnyuk, 1990). Proposed as conspecific with Old World M. agrestis by Klimkiewicz (1970), but G-banded chromosomal differences support their recognition as distinct species (Modi, 1987; Vorontsov and Lyapunova, 1986). Aside from the probable insular derivative M. breweri (see that account), pennsylvanicus is closely related to M. montanus and M. townsendii among New World species (see Conroy and Cook, 2000a; Hooper and Hart, 1962; Modi, 1987; Moore and Janecek, 1990). Insular form provectus relegated to subspecific status by Chamberlain (1954) and Moyer et al. (1988), and nesophilus by Jones et al. (1986). Regional studies of variation undertaken (e.g., Anderson, 1956; Anderson and Hubbard, 1971; Weddle and Choate, 1983), but comprehensive review of entire species warranted. Late Pleistocene and Holocene vegetational and climatic changes ... [truncated]

• 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.