Maximowicz's vole (''Alexandromys maximowiczii'') is a species of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

in the family

Cricetidae The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, muskrats, and New World rats and mice. At over 870 species, it is either the largest or second-largest family ...

. It is found in northeastern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

, and eastern

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Description

Maximowicz's vole is one of the largest voles in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Alexandromys ''Alexandromys'' is a genus of voles in the subfamily Arvicolinae, formerly a subgenus of the genus ''Microtus ''Microtus'' is a genus of voles found in North America, Europe and northern Asia. The genus name refers to the small ears of these ...

''. Adults grow to a head-and-body length of with a tail length of . The fur on the back is dark brownish-black with ochre specks, and the flanks are paler brown, blending gradually into the greyish-white underparts. The upper sides of the hands and feet are whitish-brown. The tail is either uniform dark brown or bicoloured, with the upper side dark brown and the underside white. Its scientific and common names commemorate the prominent Russian botanist

Karl Maximovich Carl Johann Maximovich, also Karl Ivanovich Maximovich (Russian language, Russian: Карл Иванович Максимович; 23 November 1827 – 16 February 1891) was a Russian botanist. Maximovich spent most of his life studying the flor ...

, who was curator of the herbarium at the

Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden The main Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden, officially known as the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Komarov Botanical Institute's Botanical Garden of Peter the Great (); since 1823 Emperor's Botanical Garden "Императорский Б ...

at the time the vole was described by

Leopold von Schrenck Peter Leopold von Schrenck (; 1826 – 8 January 1894) was a Russian zoologist, geographer and ethnographer. Biography Schrenck came from a Baltic German family, and was born and raised in the , Sumsky Uyezd, Kharkov Governorate. He recei ...

Distribution and habitat

Maximowicz's vole is found in eastern Asia. Its range extends from

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, Irkutsk Oblasts of Russia, Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

eastward to the mountains of northeastern Mongolia, the

Amur River The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ''proper'' is ...

basin and northeastern China. Its typical habitats are forest and steppe and it is found in areas of dense vegetation in valleys and foothills.

Behaviour

Maximowicz's vole is most active early in the morning and shortly before nightfall when it emerges from its burrow to feed on grasses and other plant material. The entrance to the burrow has a spoil heap which may be up to in diameter and in height. The tunnel itself is quite short and terminates in a nest chamber some in diameter and high. Other side chambers are used for storing roots and bulbs for winter food. Not much is known of the breeding habits of Maximowicz's vole but females have been reported as carrying seven and nine embryos.

Status

Maximowicz's vole has a very wide range. It is common in much of that range and faces no particular identified threats, so the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1761791 Alexandromys Mammals described in 1859 Taxa named by Leopold von Schrenck Taxonomy articles created by Polbot