NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Insular Vole
Microtus abbreviatus Miller, 1899
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The insular vole or St. Matthew Island vole (Microtus abbreviatus) is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It occurs only on St. Matthew Island and the adjacent Hall Island, in Alaska. On these Bering Sea islands, insular voles live in damp lowland areas, on the lower slopes of mountains, and on rye grass-covered beaches. They are diurnal and eat plant matter. Birds and Arctic foxes (which are the only other mammals on the island) prey on the voles.
Wikipedia contributors, Insular vole; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:19:59.255861+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Microtus abbreviatus Miller, 1899
- Name authority
- Miller, 1899
- Common name
- Insular Vole
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Rodentia
- Family
- Cricetidae
- Genus
- Microtus
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderRodentia Bowdich, 1821
- suborderMyomorpha Brandt, 1855
- superfamilyMuroidea Illiger, 1811
- familyCricetidae Fischer, 1817
- subfamilyArvicolinae Gray, 1821
- genusMicrotus Schrank, 1798
- speciesMicrotus abbreviatus Miller, 1899
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Microtus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Field VoleMicrotus (Microtus) agrestis (Linnaeus, 1761) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Anatolian VoleMicrotus (Microtus) anatolicus Krystufek & Kefelioglu, 2002 | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Beach VoleMicrotus (Mynomes) breweri (Baird, 1857) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Amargosa VoleMicrotus californicus (Peale, 1848) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Gray-tailed VoleMicrotus (Mynomes) canicaudus Miller, 1897 | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Clarke's VoleMicrotus (Alexandromys) clarkei (Hinton, 1923) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Caucasus Pine VoleMicrotus (Terricola) daghestanicus (Shidlovsky, 1919) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Dogramaci's VoleMicrotus (Microtus) dogramacii Kefelioglu & Krystufek, 1999 | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Major's Pine VoleMicrotus (Terricola) majori Thomas, 1906 | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Alpine Pine VoleMicrotus (Terricola) multiplex (Fatio, 1905) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Root VoleMicrotus (Alexandromys) oeconomus (Pallas, 1776) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Creeping VoleMicrotus (Mynomes) oregoni (Bachman, 1839) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Microtus abbreviatus fisheri Merriam, 1900 Merriam, 1900 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180303 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4398P. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.