Southern Birch Mouse

Taxobox|name=Southern Birch Mouse
status = LR/nt
status_system = IUCN2.3
regnum=Animalia
phylum=Chordata
classis=Mammalia
ordo=Rodentia
familia=Dipodidae
genus="Sicista"
species="S. subtilis"
binomial = "Sicista subtilis"
binomial_authority= Pallas, 1773

The Southern Birch Mouse ("Sicista subtilis") is a species of birch mouse in the family Dipodidae.

The most prominent characteristic of the Southern Birch Mouse is the dark stripe down the center of the back, which is bordered by two narrow bright stripes on both sides. From head to rump it measures from 56 to 72 mm, with a tail from 110 to 130% of the main body length. The background fur color is gray-brown.

The Southern Birch Mouse is found on the Balkan Peninsula, Ukraine, Romania and southern Russia

The Southern Birch Mouse is pronouncedly a steppe dweller. It makes a subterranean burrow in the summer and hibernates.

References

*Holden, M. E. and G. G. Musser. 2005. Family Dipodidae. Pp. 871-893 "in" Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
*Macdonald D. : "Die Große Enzyklopädie der Säugetiere", Könemann Verlag in der Tandem Verlag GmbH, Königswinter, 2004.
*Detlef Schilling u. a. : BLV Bestimmungsbuch Säugetiere, BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, 1983 ISBN 3-405-12846-3

"This page is based on a translation of the corresponding article from the German Wikipedia.