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Burrowing Vole

Hyperacrius fertilis

French: Campagnol de True / German: KaschmirWihlmaus / Spanish: Topillo cavador

Other common names: Subalpine Kashmir Vole, True's Vole

Taxonomy. Arvicola fertilis True, 1894, “Pir Panjal range, [Kashmir, India]. 8,500 feet [=259] 1 m].”

Three subspecies are recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution.

H.f.fertilisTrue,1894—restrictedtothePirPanjalRange,NWIndia.

H.f.brachelixG.S.Miller,1899—betweenDachinarea(JammuandKashmir),NWIndia,andupperKaghanValley,NPakistan.

H. f. zygomaticus Phillips, 1969 — between Dir and Utror, NW Pakistan.

Descriptive notes. Head—body 87-111 mm, tail 19-28 mm; weight 21-5-23 g. The Burrowing Vole is fossorial, modified for life underground. Body is cylindrical, neck is short, and head is massive and bluntly rounded. Tail is short, c.25% of head-body length, and densely covered in fur with long pencil. Vibrissae are short and weak, eyes are very small, and ears are short and simple, slightly overtopping fur. Claws are long, slender, and shorter and heavier on hindfeet. Females have three pairs of nipples, one pectoral and two inguinal. Fur is soft and dense, dark brown to black on back and paler on sides; underparts are gray and washed buff. Tail is blackish brown and indistinctly bicolored; feet are gray brown. Skull is short, with widely expanded zygomatic arches. Rostrum is long, braincase is relatively short, and interorbital region is moderately wide. Temporal ridges are weak but fuse into median interorbital crest in adults. Mandible shows no apparent modifications for burrowing, except prominent alveolar process on outer wall of mandibular ramus. Upperincisors are slightly proodont. Molars are lightly built, hypsodont, and rootless. Enamel band is thick and reentrant folds lack cement. Enamel pattern is similar to species of Alticola, except for much simplified M? that consists of only three closed dental fields.

Habitat. Open alpine meadows, grasslands, pastures and associated rock walls, and forest clearings at elevations of 2135-3655 m. The Burrowing Vole occurs at higher elevations than the Murree Vole ( Hyperacrius wynnei).

Food and Feeding. Diet contains succulent roots, bulbs (e.g. from foxtail lily, Eremurus, Asphodelaceae), and grass stems. It mainly forages in underground galleries but goes also aboveground.

Breeding. The Burrowing Vole has 2-3 litters/year born during spring and summer.

Activity patterns. The Burrowing Vole is diurnal and nocturnal. It is fossorial and only occasionally emerges aboveground; it spends most of the time underground in excavated tunnels. Winter and breeding tunnels are presumably deeper. It does not hibernate.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Although not highly gregarious, Burrowing Voles can occur in loose colonies.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Near Threatened on The IUCN Red List. Small area of occupancy of ¢.2000 km?®, fragmented distribution, and habitat degradation and destruction are conservation threats. In the Conservation Assessment and Management Planfor South Asian Non-volant Small Mammals, the Burrowing Vole is classified as vulnerable.

Bibliography. Hinton (1926), Molur et al. (2005), Phillips (1969), Roberts (1997), Shenbrot & Krasnov (2005).