NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Northern Birch Mouse
Sicista betulina (Pallas, 1779)
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.
Sicista betulina. Found in Riga city, Latvia
AfroBrazilian · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The northern birch mouse (Sicista betulina) is a small rodent about 5 to 8 cm (2.0 to 3.1 in) long (without the tail), weighing 5 to 13 g (0.18 to 0.46 oz). It lives in northern Europe and Asia in forest and marsh zones.
It hibernates in burrows. It eats shoots, grains, berries, and sometimes insects.
Wikipedia contributors, Northern birch mouse; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:42:17.786310+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Sicista betulina (Pallas, 1779)
- Name authority
- (Pallas, 1779)
- Common name
- Northern Birch Mouse
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Rodentia
- Family
- Dipodidae
- Genus
- Sicista
- 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
- superfamilyDipodoidea Fischer de Waldheim, 1817
- familyDipodidae Fischer de Waldheim, 1817
- subfamilySicistinae J. A. Allen, 1901
- genusSicista Gray, 1827
- speciesSicista betulina (Pallas, 1779)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Sicista. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Armenian Birch MouseSicista armenica Sokolov & Baskevich, 1988 | DipodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Chinese Birch MouseSicista concolor (Büchner, 1892) | DipodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Klochor Birch MouseSicista kluchorica Sokolov, Kovalskaya & Baskevich, 1980 | DipodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Gray Birch MouseSicista pseudonapaea Strautman, 1949 | DipodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Southern Birch MouseSicista subtilis (Pallas, 1773) | DipodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Tien Shan Birch MouseSicista tianshanica (Salensky, 1903) | DipodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Dark Birch MouseSicista severtzovi Ognev, 1935 | DipodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Caucasian Birch MouseSicista caucasica Vinogradov, 1925 | DipodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Far Eastern Birch MouseSicista caudata Thomas, 1907 | DipodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Kazbeg Birch MouseSicista kazbegica Sokolov, Baskevich & Kovalskaya, 1986 | DipodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Altai Birch MouseSicista napaea Hollister, 1912 | DipodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Strand's Birch MouseSicista strandi Formozov, 1931 | DipodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Sicista montana Méhely, 1913 Méhely, 1913 | synonym |
| Sminthus tatricus Méhely, 1913 Méhely, 1913 | synonym |
| Sicista norvegica Chaworth-Musters, 1927 Chaworth-Musters, 1927 | synonym |
| Sicista betulina taigica Stroganov & Potapkina, 1950 Stroganov & Potapkina, 1950 | 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=609767 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:4X6ZY. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.