Western Broad-toothed Field Mouse

discussion

Discussion: Sylvaemus group. A close relative of A. mystacinus, which has been considered the sole member of Karstomys, although Musser et al. (1996) placed it in their Sylvaemus Group, a relationship weakly to strongly corroborated by allozymic studies (Filippucci et al., 2002; Mezhzherin, 1997 a) and phylogenetic analyses of nuclear IRBP and mtDNA cytochrome b and 12 S rRNA sequences (Michaux et al., 2002 a, in press). Described as a species and listed that way by Ellerman (1941) but subsequently treated as a subspecies of A. mystacinus (Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951; Corbet, 1978 c; Musser and Carleton, 1993; Pavlinov et al., 1995 a). Based on morphology and biochemical genetic variation data, Mezhzherin (1997 a) separated epimelas as a species separate from A. mystacinus, an action supported by phylogenetic analyses of protein electrophoresis of 28 - 38 gene loci (Filippucci et al., 2002) and mtDNA cytochrome b and 12 S rRNA sequences (Michaux et al., 2002 a). That the Balkan epimelas was a different species than the Anatolian mystacinus was indicated in Mitchell-Jones et al. (1999), and the basic discriminatory data was provided earlier by Storch (1977; who also wrote the

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

distribution

Distribution: W and S Balkans in W Croatia, W Bosnia and Herzegovina, S Serbia and Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, W Bulgaria and Greece (the European portion of mystacinus mapped by Mitchell-Jones et al. [1999]; also see Peshev [1996], Petrov [1992], Prigioni [1996], and Vohralík [1992], all reported as mystacinus), and Adriatic islands of Kor ula and Mljet (Mitchell-Jones et al., 1999).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

activity

Activity patterns. The Western Broad-toothed Field Mouse is terrestrial, and nocturnal and crepuscular. It takes shelter in rocky crevices or digs nests under boulders.

Muridae

biology_ecology

Habitat. Found around rocks, preferring dry habitats with scrubby vegetation from sea level to 1620 m.

Muridae