Field Guide/Mammals/Southern Red-backed Vole

Southern Red-backed Vole Clethrionomys gapperi SouthernRedbackedVole23.jpg SouthernRedbackedVole23.jpg Southern Red-backed Vole, Clethrionomys gapperi Cricetidae Length: 4.57-6.77 in (116-172 mm) Weight: 0.21-1.48 oz (6-42 g) The Southern red-backed vole has a broad reddish stripe from its forehead to its bottom, with a grayish nose and sides of the head, and a whitish, creamy belly. Its tail is bicolor, with dark brown or black and whitish or gray at the end of the tail. It has a stocky build, short ears, and small eyes.Hazard E. B. 1982 The Mammals of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis, MN 90–91 Its tail is more slender and has less hair than the Northern red-backed vole. Its back is also brighter and has smaller ears than the Northern red-backed vole.Reid F. A. 2006 Mammals of North America Houghton Mifflin Company Boston, NY 308–309 It can be found in the Rocky Mountains south to southwestern New Mexico and Arizona, the Northern Great Plains to Iowa, and the Appalachian mountains to northern Georgia. The Southern red-backed vole inhabits moist coniferous, deciduous, and mixed forests with stumps and logs for ground cover. Some voles are found in muskegs, sedge marshes, and bogs. It nests under logs, stumps, and roots, but will use the burrows of moles and other small mammals instead of making its own nest.Merritt J. F. 1981 Clethrionomys gapperi Mammalian Species 146 1–9 http://www.science.smith.edu/msi/ September 23, 2012 It is an herbivore with a diet of plants, seeds, nuts, berries, mosses, lichens, ferns, fungi, and arthropods. Southern red-backed voles have also been known to eat insects. The Southern red-backed vole mates with more than one vole of the opposite sex, and generally does not form colonies. It is active day and night, but it is more nocturnal than diurnal.Linzey A. V. NatureServe 2010 Canis lupus IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Version 2012.1 http://www.iucnredlist.org September 28, 2012 The breeding season lasts about 7 months in the wild, from late winter to late fall, and gestation is 17-19 days. Litter size ranges from 2-8 young, with 1 to 6 litters per year. In 2 to 4 months young are sexually matured .NatureServe 2012 Clethrionomys gapperi NatureServe Explorer: An online encyclopedia of life Version 7.1 http://www.natureserve.org/explorer September 28, 2012 Most live 10-12 months in the wild, although they have been reported to live up to 20 months. Few survive two winters.