Wood Mouse

discussion

Discussion: Sylvaemus group. The geographic range as mapped by Corbet (1978 c) east of Belarus and E Ukraine reflects distributions of other species (A. uralensis, A. witherbyi, A. pallipes, and A. rusiges) once included within A. sylvaticus; " A. sylvaticus is virtually absent from the entire area of the Middle East " (Macholán et al., 2001 b: 806). Contrary to published records, A. sylvaticus is not part of the modern Israeli fauna (Filippucci et al., 1989). Tchernov (1979, 1986, 1994, 1996), however, maintains it is and is also represented there by fossils from middle to late Pleistocene cave sediments (late Acheullan to Upper Mousterian), and from 40,000 to 10,000 years B. C. During that Pleistocene interval, A. mystacinus was found along with A. sylvaticus in the same caves, but A. flavicollis was usually absent (Tchernov, 1979). Tchernov’s " sylvaticus " probably represents A. witherbyi (B. Kryštufek, 2002, in litt.; see account of A. witherbyi), which along with A. mystacinus and A. flavicollis are part of the modern Israeli fauna (see accounts of latter two). An Arabian Peninsula record at Qatar is based on Mus (Kock and Nader, 1990). See Kowalski (2001) for the inclusion o

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

distribution

Distribution: European and N African: Europe north to Scandinavia; south to NW Turkey (Thrace and NW Anatolia; Filippucci et al., 1996; Pamukoglu and Albayrak, 1996; specimens in USNM); and east to C Belarus, E Ukraine, and closely adjacent W Russia, which is the easternmost limit of the species (Zagorodnyuk, 1993); see maps in Zagorodnyuk et al. (1997: 39), Mezhzherin (1997 a: 33), Niethammer (1978 c: 341), and Mitchell-Jones et al. (1999: 275). Range in N Africa extends from Atlas Mtns in Morocco east across Algiers to Tunisia (Aulagnier, 1991; Aulagnier and Thevenot, 1986; Kock and Felton, 1980). Also found on Iceland; Britain, Ireland, and numerous nearby islands; Aegean islands (Kryštufek, 2002 a; Özkan and Kryštufek, 1999); some islands in the Tuscan Arch. (De Marinis et al., 1996); Sardinia, Corsica (Masseti, 1993), and other Mediterranean islands (Alcover and Gosalbez, 1988; Amori, 1993; Amori and Masseti, 1996; Cheylan, 1991).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

materials_examined

Type Locality: Sweden, Uppsala (neotype designated by Zagorodnyuk [1993]).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

discussion

COMMENTS: Subgenus Sylvaemus. The geographic range as outlined here is primarily European and N African. Its occurrence as mapped by Corbet (1978 c) east of Byelorussia and W Ukraine reflects ranges of other species (uralensis, fulvipectus, arianus, wardi, rusiges) once included within A. sylvaticus. Contrary to published records, A. sylvaticus is not part of the modern Israeli fauna (Filippucci et al., 1989), but is represented there by fossils from between 40,000 and 10,000 B. C. (Tchernov, 1979). The Arabian Peninsula record at Qatar is based on Mus (Kock and Nader, 1990). Biochemical (Byrne et al., 1990; Fernandes et al., 1991; Gemmeke, 1981) and morphometric (Alcantara, 1991; Murback, 1979) intrapopulational analyses provided results of differentiation within species and change in its evolutionary history (see Berry, 1973, and references therein), as well as insular gigantism (Libois and Fons, 1990). Morphometric contrasts between A. sylvaticus and A. flavicollis in context of evolutionary divergence reported by Hedges (1969), Mezhzherin and Lashkova (1992) and Van der Straeten and Van der Straeten-Harrie (1977); chromosomal and biochemical (mtDNA) contrasts by Debrot and Merm

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae