Wikipedia / Apodemus
Wikipedia / Apodemus
Apodemus is a genus of murid (true mice and rats) containing the field mice as well as other well-known species like the wood mouse and the yellow-necked mouse. The name is unrelated to that of the Mus genus, instead being derived from the Greek ἀπό-δημος (literally away from home).
Taxonomy
Related to the Ryūkyū spiny rats (Tokudaia) and the prehistoric Rhagamys – and far more distantly to Mus and Malacomys – it includes these species:
Apodemus sensu stricto
Striped field mouse, A. agrarius
Small Japanese field mouse, A. argenteus
Chevrier's field mouse, A. chevrieri
Alsomys
South China field mouse, A. draco
Himalayan field mouse, A. gurkha
Sichuan field mouse, A. latronum
Korean field mouse, A. peninsulae
Taiwan field mouse, A. semotus
Large Japanese field mouse, A. speciosus
Sylvaemus
Alpine field mouse, A. alpicola
Yellow-necked mouse, A. flavicollis – includes A. arianus
Caucasus field mouse, A. hyrcanicus
Ward's field mouse, A. pallipes
Black Sea field mouse, A. ponticus
Wood mouse, A. sylvaticus
Ural field mouse, A. uralensis
Pygmy field mouse, A. u. microps
Cimrman Ural field mouse, A. u. cimrmani
Steppe field mouse, A. witherbyi
Karstomys
Western broad-toothed field mouse, A. epimelas
Eastern broad-toothed field mouse, A. mystacinus
Kashmir field mouse, A. rusiges
Incertae sedis
Apodemus avicennicus Darvish, Javidkar & Siahsarvie, 2006
Prehistoric species described from fossil remains include:
A. gorafensis (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Italy)
A. dominans (Kolzoi 1959)
References
Further reading
Steppan, S.J.; Adkins, R.M.; Spinks, P.Q. & Hale, C. (2005): Multigene phylogeny of the Old World mice, Murinae, reveals distinct geographic lineages and the declining utility of mitochondrial genes compared to nuclear genes. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 37(2): 370–388. PDF fulltext
Darvish, J.; Javidkar, M.; Siahsarvie, R. 2006. A new species of wood mouse of the genus Apodemus (Rodentia, Muridae) from Iran Zoology in the Middle East