The striped field mouse (''Apodemus agrarius'') is a
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
Muridae
The Muridae, or murids, are either the largest or second-largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 870 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia.
...
. The range of this species stretches from
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
to
Eastern Asia
East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan ...
.
Synonyms
Accepted synonyms include ''Apodemus albostriatus'' (Bechstein, 1801), ''Apodemus caucasicus'' (Kuznetzov, 1944), ''Apodemus chejuensis'' (Johnson and Jones, 1955), ''Apodemus coreae'' (Thomas, 1908), ''Apodemus gloveri'' (Kuroda, 1939), ''Apodemus harti'' (Thomas, 1898), ''Apodemus henrici'' (Lehmann, 1970), ''Apodemus insulaemus'' (Tokuda, 1939 and 1941), ''Apodemus istrianus'' (Kryštufek, 1985), ''Apodemus kahmanni'' (Malec and Storch, 1963), '' Apodemus karelicus'' (Ehrström, 1914), ''Apodemus maculatus'' (Bechstein, 1801), ''Apodemus mantchuricus'' (Thomas, 1898), ''Apodemus nicolskii'' (Charlemagne, 1933), ''Apodemus nikolskii'' (Migouline, 1927), ''Apodemus ningpoensis'' (Swinhoe, 1870), ''Apodemus ognevi'' (Johansen, 1923), ''Apodemus pallescens'' (Johnson and Jones, 1955), ''Apodemus pallidior'' (Thomas, 1908), ''Apodemus pratensis'' (Ockskay, 1831), ''Apodemus rubens'' (Oken, 1816), ''Apodemus septentrionalis'' (Ognev, 1924), ''Apodemus tianschanicus'' (Ognev, 1940) and ''Apodemus volgensis'' (Kuznetzov, 1944).
''Apodemus agrarius''
Mammal Species of the World. Bucknell.edu. Retrieved on 2012-12-28.
Description
The upper parts of the striped field mouse are grayish brown with a rusty tint with a prominent mid-dorsal black stripe. The under parts are paler and grayish. The ears and eyes are relatively small. The body length reaches 126 mm, with a tail of up to 90 mm, and it weighs up to 50 g.[AgroAtlas: Pests. Apodemus agrarius Pallas. – Black-Striped Field Mouse](_blank)
Agroatlas.ru. Retrieved on 2012-12-28.
Distribution and habitat
The striped field mouse has an extensive but disjunct distribution
In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but considerably separated from each other geographically. The causes are varied and might demonstrate either the expansion or contraction of a s ...
, split into two ranges. The first reaches from central and eastern Europe to 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 ...
(Russia) in the north, and 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 ...
in the south. The second includes parts of the Russian Far East and from there reaches from 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 ...
to Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. Its expansion across Eastern Europe appears to be relatively recent; the species is thought to have reached Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
in the 1990s.[ In the winter, it may be found in haystacks, storehouses, and dwellings.]
Ecology
The striped field mouse excavates a short burrow with a nesting chamber at a shallow depth. It is nocturnal during the summer, but mainly diurnal in the winter. Its diet varies and includes green parts of plants, roots, seeds, berries, nuts, and insects. Three to five broods are born in a year with an average of six young per litter and the population can build up rapidly in a good season. Limiting factors include frequent torrential rains during a warm season, early soil freezing, and predation.
Interaction with humans
The striped field mouse is a common agricultural pest within its range, particularly in years of population outbreaks, and a natural vector of diseases commonly associated with murine rodents.
See also
*List of mammals of Korea
Approximately 100 species of mammal are known to inhabit, or to have recently inhabited, the Korean Peninsula and its surrounding waters. This includes a few species that were introduced in the 20th century; the coypu was introduced for farmi ...
* List of mammals of Russia
*List of mammals of China
This is a list of the mammal species recorded in China. There are 495 mammal species in China, of which thirteen are critically endangered, twenty-four are endangered, forty-seven are vulnerable, and seven are near threatened. One of the species ...
* List of mammals of Ukraine
*List of mammals of Belarus
There are forty-eight mammal species in Belarus, of which two are endangered, four are vulnerable, and three are near threatened. One of the species listed for Belarus can no longer be found in the wild.
The following tags are used to highlight ea ...
* List of mammals of Lithuania
*List of mammals of Latvia
There are fifty-six mammal species in Latvia, of which one is endangered, four are vulnerable, and three are near threatened.
The following tags are used to highlight each species' conservation status as assessed by the International Union for Co ...
*List of mammals of Estonia
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
* List of mammals of Finland
* List of mammals of Poland
* List of mammals of Germany
* List of mammals of Hungary
* List of mammals of Romania
References
External links
*
Apodemus agrarius
IUCN
*
{{Authority control
Mammals of Asia
Rodents of Europe
Apodemus
Mammals described in 1771
Taxa named by Peter Simon Pallas