Clethrionomys gapperi (Vigors); Southern Red-backed Vole

Don Linzey & Christy Brecht
Wytheville Community College
Wytheville, Virginia 24382

Species Description

Phylogeny

Geographic distribution

Habitat

Natural History

Conservation Biology

Links to Other Sites

Acknowledgements

References

© Copyright Roger Barbour. All rights reserved.
Clethrionomys_gapperi -- Southern Red-backed Vole

Last updated: 26 November, 2005

Species Description

Adult total length: 4 3/4 - 6 1/2 in. (120 - 165 mm)
Tail: 1 3/8 - 2 in. (35 - 50 mm)
Hind foot: 5/8 - 7/8 in. (17 - 22 mm)
Weight: 1/2 - 1 1/2 oz. (14 - 42 g)
Physical Characteristics: The southern red-backed vole is a small, moderately short-tailed mouse with a reddish back, grayish sides, and a silvery belly. A bright reddish band runs from the forehead to the rump. The fur is generally longer and more dense in winter than in summer. The bicolored tail is dark brown above and whitish below.


left lateral view of skull and mandible	dorsal view of skull	ventral view of skull

Index
Phylogeny

Taxonomic Category	Scientific Name	Common Name
Phylum	Chordata	Chordates
Class	Mammalia	Mammals
Order	Rodentia	Mice, rats, squirrels, porcupines, beavers, etc.
Family	Muridae	Murid rats and mice

Index
Geographic distribution

The red-backed vole occurs throughout most of Canada and the northern tier of the United States. The range extends south in the Appalachian Mountains to western North Carolina and in the Rocky Mountains to Arizona and New Mexico.

Range Maps

North America Great Smokies
Great Smoky Mountains National Park: This species is common to abundant in the spruce-fir forests, although Linzey has also collected it in deciduous woodlands. Clethrionomys has been recorded in the park at elevations ranging from 1,750 feet to 6,620 feet.
- Blount Co.: Bote Mountain (4,700 feet).
- Cocke Co.: Sutton Ridge near Cosby Ranger Station (1,750 feet); Low Gap Trail (3,775 feet); Low Gap (4,242 feet); Appalachian Trail between Low Gap and Mt. Cammerer (4,600 - 4,900 feet); Inadu Knob (5,700 feet); Old Black Mountain (6,300 feet); Mt. Guyot.
- Haywood Co.: Black Camp Gap (4,700 feet); Cosby Knob Shelter (4,800 feet); near Poll's Gap.
- Sevier Co.: Newfound Gap Road (3,100 feet, 4000 feet); Trout Branch; West Prong of the Little Pigeon River (3,400 feet, 4,000 feet); Walker Prong; Buck Prong (3,500 - 5,000 feet); Eagle Rocks Creek (3,600 feet); Greenbrier Cove (4, 100 - 4,600 feet); Buck Fork (4,200 - 4,600 feet); Chapman Prong (5,000 feet); Indian Gap (4,800 feet, 5,200 feet); Sugarland Mountain Trail near the Appalachian Trail; Silers Bald Shelter; Mt. Guyot (6,000 - 6,620 feet); Clingmans Dome (6,642 feet).
- State (Tenn. - N.C.) line: Mt. Collins (5,000 feet); Mt. Kephart (6,200 feet); Spence Field.
- Swain Co.: Kanati Fork (2,800 feet); Newfound Gap Road (4,500 feet); Newfound Gap; Pecks Corner Shelter (5,500 feet); Collins Gap (5,800 feet); Tricorner Knob (5,900 feet); Clingmans Dome (6,300 - 6,640 feet); Forney Ridge parking area (6,400 feet).

Index
Habitat

Cool, damp areas are preferred, including moss-covered logs and rocks, deep crevices among boulders on hillsides, along small boulder-strewn streams, and in rhododendron thickets. These semifossorial voles travel in natural runways along and beneath bogs, rocks and roots of trees. The Komareks frequently found Clethrionomys among mossy rocks in humid forests, but they also took specimens at they also took specimens at the bases of isolated shrubs on top of Spence Field, a grassy bald. This was the most abundant small mammal (37% of all small mammals captured) in a study in the spruce-fir zone (Smith and Mouzon, 1985).

Index
Natural History

Reproduction
The breeding season in the park probably extends from early spring until fall. Nursing females or females with embryos have been recorded on the following dates: April 25 (nursing); April 30, 4 (CR=5 mm); July 4, 4 (25 mm); July 4, pregnant; July 4, nursing; July 17, 2 (2R, 0L, very small); July 17, 2 (1R, 1L); July 17, 3 (2R, 1L); July 17, placental scars (1R, 3L; nursing); July 21, 4 (3 with CR about 13 mm; 1 very small); July 31, 3 (CR=16.5 mm); and August 29 (nursing). No embyos or placental scars were recorded for seven females in July or in December. Eleven males in breeding condition were noted during July. Half-grown individuals have been taken 31 July and 23 August (Komarek and Komarek, 1938; Linzey and Linzey, 1968). Smith and Mouzon (1985) recorded many males in breeding condition and pregnant and lactating females from mid-August to mid-October in the spruce-fir zone.
From two to eight young are born following a gestation period of 17 - 19 days. Newborn red-backed voles are pink, hairless, and have their eyes and ears closed. The eyes open between 10 and 15 days and weaning is usually completed by day 17. Individuals reach sexual maturity by three months of age.
Red-backed voles use grass, stems, moss, and dead leaves to line a globular nest that is 75 - 100 mm in diameter. Nests are usually located in natural cavities or in abandoned holes.
Longevity
Maximum longevity is approximately 20 months (Linzey, 1995a).
Terrestrial Ecology
Red-backed voles may be active at any time of the day or night and during all seasons of the year.
Examination of the stomachs of 27 Clethrionomys taken during July (19) and December (8) revealed vegetation forming the bulk of the diet (64.8% of the total volume) (Linzey and Linzey, 1973). Seeds amounted to nearly 12%, while animal food comprised only 4.4% of the total volume.
The enterococci Streptococcus faecalis and Streptococcus faecium were recorded in fecal specimens by Mundt (1963).
Predators and Defense
In the park, this species has been found in the stomach of a timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) in the Park (Savage, 1967).
Parasites
Komarek and Komarek (1938) found warbles (Cuterebra sp.) to be common in this species. They were found most frequently in males and almost always near the testes. Cuterebra was also recorded by Pfitzer (1950). Linzey has recorded fleas (Ctenophthalmus pseudagyrtes, Peromyscopsylla catatina, and Catallagia borealis) and a tick (Ixodes angustus) (Linzey, 1995b).

Index
Conservation Biology

Special Protection Status
- Rangewide: None
- In Park: All plants and animals are protected within Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Collection requires a permit which is usually granted only for research or educational purposes.

Index
Links to Other Sites

University of Michigan, Museum of Zoology
eNature.com

Index
Acknowledgements

Text

Dr. Donald W. Linzey, Wytheville Community College - wclinzd@wcc.vccs.edu
Christy Brecht, Wytheville Community College - wcbrecc@wcc.vccs.edu
Photographs
- Roger Barbour
Map development
- Richard Schulz, Great Smoky Mountains National Park - richard_schulz@nps.gov
Web page design & coding
- Denise Lim, University of Georgia, Athens
- John Pickering, University of Georgia, Athens

Index
References

Komarek, E. V. and R. Komarek. 1938. Mammals of the Great Smoky Mountains. Bulletin of the Chicago A cademy of Sciences 5 (6): 137 - 162.
Linzey, D.W. 1968. An ecological study of the golden mouse, Ochrotomys nuttalli , in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. American Midland Naturalist 79(2): 320-345.
Linzey, A.V. and D.W. Linzey. 1973. Notes on food of small mammals from Great Smoky Mountains Natio nal Park, Tennessee-North Carolina. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 89 (1 and 2): 6-14.
Linzey, D. W. 1995a. Mammals of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Blacksb urg, Virginia: The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, Inc.
Linzey, D. W. 1995b. Mammals of Great Smoky Mountains National Park-1995 Update. Jo urnal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 111(1):1-81.
Linzey, D. W. 1998. The Mammals of Virginia. Blacksburg, Virginia: The McDon ald & Woodward Publishing Company, Inc.
Merritt, J.F. 1981. Clethrionomys gapperi. Mammalian Species No. 146: 1 - 9. American Society of Mammalogists.
Merritt, J.F. 1999. Southern red-backed vole. Pages 613-615. In: D.E. Wilson, and S . Ruff (eds.). The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals. Washington, D. C.: Smiths onian Institution Press.
Mundt, J. O. 1963. Occurrence of enterococci in animals in a wild environment. App lied Microbiology. 11: 136-140.
Savage, T. 1967. The diet of rattlesnakes and copperheads in the Great Smoky Mou ntains National Park. Copeia 1967 (1): 226-227.
Smith, T. R., and J. M. Mouzon. 1985. Small mammal survey in th e spruce-fir zone of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Typewritten final research report. In library of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Last modified: 8 May, 2002

North America	Great Smokies