Microtus

Microtus is a genus of voles found in North America, Europe and northern Asia. The genus name refers to the small ears of these animals. They are stout rodents with short ears, legs and tails. They eat green vegetation such as grasses and sedges in summer, and grains, seeds, root and bark at other times. The genus is also called "meadow voles".

Microtus

José Ramón Pato Vicente · CC BY-SA 2.5 es · 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
volePBDB
Sits inside
ArvicoliniPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Rodentia
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 762 thousand years on record.

The record covers at least 774 ka to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 922 occurrencesPliocene — about 1 of 922 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 894 of 922 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 27 of 922 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 14 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 14 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 14 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 15 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 16 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 21 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 40 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 40 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 40 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 125 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 126 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 125 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 325 occurrences774 ka – 11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

922 occurrences of Microtus 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

922 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.

Found in

29 formations

Alamosa — 37.37°N, 105.75°W"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WKingsdown — 37.05°N, 100.50°WKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WPauba — 33.90°N, 117.00°WCrooked Creek — 37.20°N, 100.30°WCrooked Creek — 39.00°N, 98.20°WTule — 34.50°N, 101.70°WTule — 34.50°N, 101.30°WMcPherson — 38.30°N, 97.60°WCromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°ESappa — 41.20°N, 96.60°WSappa — 39.80°N, 98.10°W"Meade" — 38.90°N, 98.80°WWicomico — 29.60°N, 82.42°WWicomico — 29.42°N, 82.22°WSeymour — 33.80°N, 99.70°WGood Creek — 34.00°N, 99.80°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WSan Timoteo — 33.90°N, 117.00°WWroxham — 52.63°N, 1.30°ELa Habra — 33.60°N, 117.80°WTurlock Lake — 37.06°N, 120.20°WLoveland Loess — 40.50°N, 98.10°WOcotillo — 32.90°N, 117.10°WPalos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WFloral — 52.20°N, 106.70°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WRiverbank — 38.60°N, 121.50°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Microtus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 819 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Microtus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Microtus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,422 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 481 sites for Microtus, and this reads 240 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

229 references

Each of the 922 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. 217 further references are not listed. 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 content3

Picture of Microtus

Credit
José Ramón Pato Vicente
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.5 es
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Microtus sp. · UWBM:Mammalogy:UWBM:Mamm:54802

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itArvicolini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Schrank 1798