111.

Smoky Mountain Vole

Neodon fuscus

French: Campagnol fuligineux / German: Sichuan-Felswiihimaus / Spanish: Topillo de montana ahumado

Other common names: Plateau Vole, Quinghai Vole

Taxonomy. Microtus strauchi var. fuscus Buchner, 1889, upper reaches of Zi Qu River, a tributary of the Yangtze in Zhidoi County, Yushu Prefecture, S Qinghai Province, China.

In the past, fuscus was sometimes united with leucurus; it was designated a full species by Zheng Changlin & Wang Song in 1980. It has been placed in Pitymys, Lasiopodomys, or Phaiomys. It is listed in the genus Neodon following molecular data of Liu Shaoying and colleagues in 2012, which supported a closer relationship to N. leucurus and N. irene. Monotypic.

Distribution. S Qinghai (WC China).

Descriptive notes. Head-body 95-150 mm, tail 22-42 mm, ear 11-19 mm, hindfoot 17-24 mm; weight 30-81 g. Head and dorsum are grayish brown and clearly separated along sides from gray to yellowish brown venter. Tail is brown above and yellowish brown below. Upper surfaces offeet are grayish buff. M| possesses 4-5 triangles, and M, has anterior triangles, with tendency to be opposite and broadly confluent at bases.

Habitat. Moist meadows in high alpine grasslands at elevations of 3700-4800 m. In northern Qinghai, China, the Smoky Mountain Vole was reported in a meadow “heavily grazed by yaks and camels.” Blyth’s Mountain Voles (N. leucurus) were trapped nearby but in a different habitat. In Tanggula Mountains, southern Qinghai, both species are distributed in the same region, but they are allopatric.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. No information.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Smoky Mountain Voleslive in large, dense colonies.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List (as Lasiopodomys fuscus). Threats to the Smoky Mountain Vole are unknown. Poisoning of small mammals on the Tibetan Plateau might have reduced density, but new studies are needed to confirm this.

Bibliography. Hoffmann (1996), Liu Shaoying, Sun Zhiyu et al. (2012), Lunde (2008), Musser & Carleton (2005), Smith & Johnston (2008f), Zheng Changlin & Wang Song (1980).