Bank Vole vs Bank Vole

[christina]

Hi all

I was just looking through the mammal Gallery and found a bank vole, latin name Myodes glareolus. I have also found a bank vole, latin name Clethrionomys glareolus. My questions are: which is correct? What is the difference? Any answers?

Thank you

Christina

[diggleken]

This is quite recent Christina, hope it helps - I particularly like the last thread entry by Tormentil....................
Cheers
Ken
Correct scientific/latin name??

[The Woodman]

The Mammal Society currently use

Clethrionomys glareolus - Bank vole

if that helps.

[christina]

Thank you for coming back.


Diggleken: Oops, I usually search the forums before posting, I didn't this time and there was a thread. Thanks for the link. Tormentil speaks the truth

The Woodman: I shall definitely be sticking with the Mammal Society. Thank you.

Christina

[thunder]

Originally Posted by The Woodman

The Mammal Society currently use

Clethrionomys glareolus - Bank vole

if that helps.

But they use Myodes in their Handbook

henrya

[Dogghound]

The current name is Myodes glareolus , Clethrionomys glareolus is the old name.

[Alex90]

As already said, i did a bit of research after my thread.... the correct term is Myodes... clethrionomys was ssed for a while but as myodes was the one first used that takes priority so therefor is the correct name.

Although to be honest both are so frequently used ... i don't think it makes a huge amount of difference, people will still know what you are on about.

Despite finding that the correct term in Myodes ... i still use clethrionomys out of habit

In the netherlands, the private keepers who have them all refer to them as clethrionomys so for convenience sake whilst dealing with people who keep "exotic" pets its easier to use this.

[christina]

Thank you all for your confirmation. The little bank vole who lives around our fishpond will, from now on, be known as Banksy! Saves any argument about his/her latin name. He/she is sooo darn cute and we put bird suet and peanuts and soaked sultanas out for him/her to aid his/her survival through this cold and snowy winter. Lol

So, thank you all once again for your help, but I think I shall be sticking to the Clethrionomys glareolus name because all my photos are named as such.

Hoping the weather stays good for you all

Christina

[The Woodman]

I raised the issue of scientific name discrepancy within the Mammal Societies publications and have recieved this reply from Derek Yalden (abriged by me) via Laura Drake that also contains some interesting notes about the renaming of American Mink.

"There's no doubt that Clethrionomys should be Myodes.

Whether it is Mustela vison or Neovison vison or Vison vison is a
matter of taxonomic opinion. How different is M. vison from other
Mustela? Wilson & Reeder, whom we followed on most taxonomic
decisions, used Neovison vison. The molecular phylogeny on which they
based this judgement showed M. vison as the most isolated of the
Mustela spp. but as a basal species on the Mustela branch (relative to
other mustelids). The later study I quoted, by Marmi et al. (2004),
suggested that it was not distinct enough to be placed on its own in a
separate genus. So I left it in Mustela, which I thought made best
sense.

There's a newer paper, Harding, L.E. & Smith, F.A. (2009) Mustela or
Vison? Evidence for the taxonomic status of the American mink and
distinct biogeographic radiation of American weasels. Mol. Phylog.
Evol. 52: 632-642. They demonstrate that the rare S Am. Mustela + M,
vison + M. frenata belong in a distinct lineage from the Eurasian
Mustela, but they argue (not entirely convincingly) that Vison is the
correct generic name for this lineage. One problem with this is the
two SE Asian species, strigidorsa and nudipes, don't fit well in
either, and need more study. (Apologies that I can't get the names
into italics on my e-mail system).

This one doesn't have a right answer. It is perfectly acceptable to
say we're following the Handbook. Or we could change things to the new
knowledge. Or follow Wilson & Reeder."

[christina]

Phew Woodman, that's a little bit heavy for first thing in the morning lol...I shall start using Myodes from now on. Thank you for the information.