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BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Myodes gapperi
Southern Red-backed Vole

 
Scientific Name: Myodes gapperi (Vigors, 1830)
Scientific Name Synonyms: Clethrionomys gapperi
English Name: Southern Red-backed Vole
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference: Wilson, D. E., and D. M. Reeder (editors). 1993. Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. Second edition. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC. xviii + 1206 pp. Available online at: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/msw/.
Classification Level: Species
Taxonomy Comments: Jan. 2007 - changed from Clethrionomys gapperi as per NatureServe (DDW).
Species Group: Vertebrate Animal
Species Code: M-MYGA
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Craniata Mammalia Rodentia Cricetidae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G5 (Apr 2016)
Provincial Status: S5 (Mar 2024)
BC List: Yellow
Provincial FRPA list:   
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status:
SARA Schedule:
General Status Canada: 4 - Secure (2005)
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description:
Global Reproduction Comments: Breeds mid-January to late November; peak activity February-October. Gestation lasts 17-19 days. Litters size is 1-9 (average 5.6 in Alberta, 6.5 in Colorado). Litters/year: 1-4 for young, 1-6 for older females in Alberta; 2/year in Colorado (young of year breed).
Global Ecology Comments: Disperses viable spores of mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing bacteria (see Maser and Maser 1988).

Home range varies from 0.25 to 3.5 acres (Merritt and Merritt 1978). Experimentation by Gillis and Nams (1998) suggests that populations separated by an inter-patch distance of 60-70 m likely would be isolated from one another. Mature females are territorial. Populations noncyclic.
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		Y /
N /
N /
na /
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence)
Global Habitat Comments: Prefers cool, mesic deciduous, coniferous, or mixed forests, especially areas with large amount of ground cover. Regarded as an ecological indicator of old-growth conditions in the Rocky Mountains. Also uses second-growth areas. Mossy logs and tree roots in coniferous forests are optimal. In the northern part of its range also found in muskegs, sedge marshes, shrubby habitats, and treed peatlands (Merritt, in Wilson and Ruff 1999). Often on rock outcrops in some areas (e.g., Virginia). Often associated with abandoned stone walls (fences) in the northeastern U.S. In Pennsylvania, abundance increased with forest fragmentation (Yahner 1992). Nests under logs, stumps and roots. Unlike MICROTUS, doesn't dig tunnels, but uses the burrows of moles and other small mammals.
Food Habits: Herbivore: Adult, Immature
Global Food Habits Comments: Feeds chiefly on vegetation, seeds, nuts, fungi, some insects; summer diet in Colorado (and much of western U.S.) consists almost entirely of fungi.
Global Phenology: Crepuscular: Adult, Immature
Nocturnal: Adult, Immature
Global Phenology Comments: Mainly nocturnal, active year-long.
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: N
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): 16/ / 42
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: Most of forested Canada (northern British Columbia to Labrador) south through the Rocky Mountains to central New Mexico and east-central Arizona, northern Great Plains (to Iowa), northern Great Lakes, New England and Appalachian Mountains (to northern Georgia).
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: Hammerson, G.
Last Updated: Dec 07, 1993
Provincial Information Author:
Last Updated:
   
References and Related Literature
Baker, R. H. 1983. Michigan mammals. Michigan State University Press. 642 pp.
Banfield, A. W. F. 1974. The mammals of Canada. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Canada. 438 pp.
Blair, W.F. 1941. Same data on home ranges and general life history of the short-tailed shrew, redbacked mouse and wood-land jumping mouse in northern Michigan. Am. Midl. Nat. 25(3):681-685.
Butsch, R.S. 1954. The life history and ecology of the red-backed vole Clethrionyms gapperi Vigors in Minnesota. Univ. Michigan, unpubl. Ph.D. dissertation, 161 pp.
Gillis, E. A., and V. O. Nams. 1998. How red-backed voles find habitat patches. Canadian Journal of Zoology 76:791-794.
Godin, A. J. 1977. Wild mammals of New England. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. 304 pp.
Hall, E. R. 1981a. The Mammals of North America, second edition. Vols. I & II. John Wiley & Sons, New York, New York. 1181 pp.
Hamilton, W. J., Jr., and J. O. Whitaker, Jr. 1979. Mammals of the eastern United States. Cornell Univ. Press, Ithaca, New York. 346 pp.
Jones, J. K., Jr., R. S. Hoffman, D. W. Rice, C. Jones, R. J. Baker, and M. D. Engstrom. 1992a. Revised checklist of North American mammals north of Mexico, 1991. Occasional Papers, The Museum, Texas Tech University, 146:1-23.
Maser, C., and Z. Maser. 1988. Mycophagy of red-backed voles, CLETHRIONOMYS CALIFORNICUS and C. GAPPERI. Great Basin Nat. 48:269-273.
Merritt, J.F. 1981. Clethrionomys gapperi. Am. Soc. Mamm.,Mammalian Species No. 146. 9 pp.
Merritt, J.F. and J.M. Merritt. 1978. Population ecology and energy relationships of Clethrionomys gapperi in a Colorado subalpine forest. J. Mamm. 59(3):576-598.
Nagorsen, D. W. 2005b. The rodents and lagomorphs of British Columbia. Royal B.C. Mus. Handb., Victoria, BC. 410pp.
Nordyke, K. A., and S. W. Buskirk. 1991. Southern red-backed vole, Clethrionomys gapperi, populations in relation to stand succession and old-growth character in the central Rocky Mountains. Can. Field-Nat. 105:330-334.
Wilson, D. E., and D. M. Reeder (editors). 1993. Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. Second edition. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC. xviii + 1206 pp. Available online at: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/msw/.
Wilson, D. E., and S. Ruff. 1999. The Smithsonian book of North American mammals. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. 750 pp.
Yahner, R. H. 1992. Dynamics of a small mammal community in a fragmented forest. Am. Midl. Nat. 127:381-391.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1993. Species Summary: Myodes gapperi. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 14, 2026).