NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Amargosa Vole
Microtus californicus (Peale, 1848)
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.
This vole was seen at the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse while I was looking for various birds flying by.
Jerry Kirkhart · CC BY 2.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The California vole (Microtus californicus) is a type of vole which lives throughout much of California and part of southwestern Oregon. It is also known as the "California meadow mouse", a misnomer as this species is a vole, not a mouse. It averages 172 mm (6.8 in) in length although this length varies greatly between subspecies.
Wikipedia contributors, California vole; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:59:52.818834+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Microtus californicus (Peale, 1848)
- Name authority
- (Peale, 1848)
- Common name
- Amargosa 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 californicus (Peale, 1848)
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Insular VoleMicrotus abbreviatus Miller, 1899 | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| 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 |
| 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.
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
North America
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=180305 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.
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:4399K. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.