Microtus (Pitymys) pinetorum Le Conte 1830

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Cricetidae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 955-1189 : 1013

Microtus (Pitymys) pinetorum Le Conte 1830

Microtus (Pitymys) pinetorum Le Conte 1830 , Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist., 3: 133.

Type Locality: USA, Georgia, Liberty Co., old LeConte plantation near Riceboro (as interpreted by Bailey, 1900:63).

Vernacular Names: Woodland Vole.

Synonyms: Microtus (Pitymys) apella (Le Conte 1853) ; Microtus (Pitymys) auricularis Bailey 1898 ; Microtus (Pitymys) carbonarius (Handley 1952) ; Microtus (Pitymys) kennicottii ( Baird 1857) ; Microtus (Pitymys) nemoralis Bailey 1898 ; Microtus (Pitymys) parvulus (A. H. Howell 1916) ; Microtus (Pitymys) scalopsoides (Audubon and Bachman 1841) ; Microtus (Pitymys) schmidti (Jackson 1941) .

Distribution: Temperate deciduous forest zone of E USA —eastern shoreline from S Maine to NC Florida, west to C Wisconsin and E Texas; isolated population ( auricularis ) on the Edwards Plateau, C Texas, may be extinct ( Goetze, 1998).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion:

Type species of Pitymys , a taxon sometimes accorded generic status, particularly by European mammalogists and paleontologists (e.g., Corbet, 1978 c; Koenigswald, 1980; Repenning, 1983, 1992; Van der Meulen, 1978). Pitymys is more often viewed as a subgenus of Microtus (e.g., Chaline et al., 1999; Gromov and Polyakov, 1977; Hall, 1981; Miller and Kellogg, 1955), a relationship and ranking convincingly endorsed by a variety of morphological, chromosomal, and molecular studies ( Carleton, 1981; Conroy and Cook, 2000 a; Conroy et al., 2001; Hooper and Hart, 1962; Modi, 1996; Moore and Janacek, 1990; Zagorodnyuk, 1990).

Van der Meulen (1978) regarded nemoralis and parvulus as species distinct from pinetorum , an evaluation shared by Repenning (1983) and Brunet-LeComte and Chaline (1992) for nemoralis ; R. A. Martin (1991) did not view parvulus as separate. Whitaker and Hamilton (1998), on the other hand, regarded both taxa, and other eastern forms, as inseparable from M. p. pinetorum . Such disparate conclusions cry out for critical examination with a broader array of information bases, such as chromosomal and genetic surveys (e.g., Moore and Janecek, 1990; Wilson, 1984). Pitymys hibbardi , a late Pleistocene Floridian form, synonymized with M. pinetorum by R. A. Martin (1995). See Smolen (1981, Mammalian Species, 147)

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