Eurasian Field Mice

Apodemus is a genus of Muridae (true mice and rats). 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^[1] – 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)^[2]
• A. dominans (Kolzoi 1959)

References