Lemmus lemmus

The Norway lemming, also known as the Norwegian lemming, is a common species of lemming found in northern Fennoscandia, where it is the only vertebrate species endemic to the region. The Norway lemming dwells in tundra and fells, and prefers to live near water. Adults feed primarily on sedges, grasses and moss. They are active at both day and night, alternating naps with periods of activity.

Lemmus lemmus

Argus fin · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
Norway lemmingPBDB
Sits inside
LemmusPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Rodentia
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Rodentia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 1.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 1.8 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 3.55 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Pliocene — about 1 of 14 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 13 of 14 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 14 occurrences3.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.5–3.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.4–3.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.2–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–3.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.0–2.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.3–2.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.2–2.0 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.0–1.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.6–1.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.5–1.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.2–1.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.1–945 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences945 ka–810 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences810 ka–675 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence675 ka–540 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence540 ka–405 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence405 ka–270 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence270 ka–135 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence135 ka–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.8 Mya129 ka4.05 Mya0 Mya

14 occurrences of Lemmus lemmus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

14 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Lemmus lemmus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Lemmus lemmus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

173 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 14 sites for Lemmus lemmus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

9 references

Each of the 14 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Lemmus lemmus

Credit
Argus fin
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Lemmus lemmus was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itLemmus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)