NATURAL HISTORY OF THE
PRAIRIE VOLE
(Mammalian Genus Microtus)

BY
E. W. JAMESON, Jr.
University of Kansas Publications
Museum of Natural History
Volume 1, No. 7, pp. 125-151
October 6, 1947
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
LAWRENCE
1947

University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History
Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman; Donald S. Farner, H. H. Lane,
Edward H. Taylor
Volume 1, No. 7, pp. 125-151
October 6, 1947
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
PRINTED BY
FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER
TOPEKA, KANSAS
1947
21-6957

Natural History of the Prairie Vole
(Mammalian Genus Microtus)

By
E. W. JAMESON, JR.

CONTENTS

PAGE
Introduction[128]
Methods[130]
Molt[131]
Food and Habitat[132]
Types of cover[132]
Cuttings[133]
Food caches[134]
Plants used as food and as cover[135]
Associates[137]
Nest and Burrows[137]
External Parasites[138]
Fleas (Siphonaptera)[139]
Lice (Anoplura)[141]
Mites (Acari except Ixodoidea)[142]
Ticks (Ixodoidea)[143]
Reproduction[144]
Age classes[144]
Fecundity[144]
Size of litters[146]
The breeding season[147]
Summary[149]
Literature Cited[150]

INTRODUCTION

The prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) at Lawrence, Kansas, is approximately 5-1/2 inches in length, of which the tail comprises 1-1/4 inches, and weighs approximately 1-1/2 ounces. The color on the dorsum is dark gray with a grizzled appearance from the mixture of black and fulvous on the long hairs; the venter is paler, sometimes pale fulvous or cinnamon. The animal is compactly built much as are the other microtine rodents. The short legs and short tail, small eyes and partly hidden ears, and heavy and flattened head all suggest its semifossorial mode of life. The prairie vole spends most of its time in an elaborate system of tunnels (some entirely below the ground) and in almost hidden galleries in the dense grass.

Microtus ochrogaster can be separated from other voles in its geographic range by a combination of several characters. The plantar tubercles usually number five, although a few individuals with six tubercles were found at Lawrence, Kansas. Microtus pennsylvanicus, normally with six plantar tubercles, as Bole and Moulthrop (1942:156) pointed out, sometimes has only five. Therefore, the number of plantar tubercles alone is not a certain means for separating pennsylvanicus from ochrogaster. The color of the venter of ochrogaster is usually fulvous or cinnamon instead of grayish as in pennsylvanicus, but there is variation in this respect too; some prairie voles also have a grayish venter. The shorter tail of ochrogaster will assist in establishing its identity where it occurs with pennsylvanicus. The third upper molar has two closed triangles in ochrogaster and usually three in pennsylvanicus. The pelage of ochrogaster is coarse whereas pennsylvanicus has fine fur. Prairie voles may be separated from pine mice (Pitymys nemoralis and P. pinetorum) with which they are sometimes found, by the larger eyes, less rusty color, and longer tail. The Cooper lemming mouse (Synaptomys cooperi) differs from the prairie vole in having the upper incisors grooved, and in possessing a shorter tail which approximates the hind foot in length.

Of Microtus ochrogaster from Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, average measurements of twenty-five adult males are: total length, 143 (121-167) mm.; tail, 32 (25-42) mm.; hind feet, 20 (17-22) mm.; weight, 43 (38-55) grams. Twenty-five adult females from the same place average: total length, 150 (131-170) mm.; tail, 33 (31-41) mm.; hind foot, 19 (17-21) mm.; weight, 45 (38-58) grams.

The prairie vole is found in suitable habitats in the central part of North America. It has been recorded from Edmonton, Alberta, in the northwest (Bailey, 1900:76), southeastward to Chesapeake, Ohio (Bole and Moulthrop, op. cit.:156), and in the southwest as far as Ft. Reno, Oklahoma (Bailey, op. cit.:74). See [figure 1] showing the known range of Microtus ochrogaster. Microtus ludovicianus, a close relative of ochrogaster, has been taken along the southern part of the boundary between Texas and Louisiana (Lowery, 1943:247).

The activities of voles, especially those of the genus Microtus, attracted the attention of naturalists even in early times. Aristotle (translated by Thompson, 1910) wrote: "The rate of propagation of field mice in country places, and the destruction that they cause, are all beyond telling. In many places their number is so incalculable that but very little of the corn-crop is left to the farmer; and so rapid is their mode of proceeding that sometimes a small farmer will one day observe that it is time for reaping, and on the following morning, when he takes his reapers afield, he finds his entire crop devoured. Their disappearance is unaccountable: in a few days not a mouse will be there to be seen."

Figure 1. Range of the Prairie Vole (Microtus ochrogaster).

Several early naturalists in this country commented on the fluctuations in numbers of individuals, and on the breeding and feeding habits of voles. Kennicott (1857) in an agricultural report on the mammals of Illinois wrote about the breeding of the prairie vole. He described its stores of plants and commented on the behavior of some captives. Quick and Butler (1885) discussed the habits of Microtus ochrogaster as well as those of M. pennsylvanicus, Pitymys pinetorum, and Synaptomys cooperi in Indiana, and described the feeding and breeding habits of these species. Criddle (1926) gave an account of the feeding and breeding habits of Microtus ochrogaster in Manitoba, and Fisher (1945) published a short description of the food and reproduction of the same species as he observed it in Missouri. Stone investigated the fauna in the nests of this vole in the same state, but has not yet, as of March, 1946, published his findings.

METHODS

The information in the present account was obtained by observing animals in the field, and by examining trapped animals that were brought into the laboratory. Five hundred individuals were caught in snap-traps, and forty additional voles that were marked were captured a total of 157 times. More than 90 per cent of the specimens were trapped at Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, but voles were examined also in Ellsworth, Atchison, and Jefferson counties, Kansas, and in Douglas County, Illinois. My data pertain to Microtus ochrogaster in the above named areas from October, 1945, until August, 1946. The findings may not be typical of this species in other areas and in other years.

The museum special traps were used both with and without bait. The bait consisted of a piece of walnut meat on the treadle. By placing the trap crosswise in the runway, voles were captured whether or not the treadle was baited. Immediately upon removal from the trap, each vole was placed in a white flannel sack, one sack sufficing for several voles when necessary. In this way the loss of ectoparasites was kept to a minimum. The fleas were counted, and the numbers of lice and mites were estimated; some specimens of ectoparasites were saved for identification.

The voles taken in live traps were marked and released. The marking was done by cutting off one or more toes in such a manner that the vole could later be identified. From left to right, the toes were assigned numbers from one to five on the left hind foot, and by tens from ten to fifty on the right hind foot. Number 33, therefore, was assigned to the one vole of which the middle toe of each hind foot had been cut off. Each time an animal was captured alive, it was weighed, specimens of fleas, lice and mites were preserved, and the external appearance of the reproductive organs was noted. The extent of the molt line, if the vole was molting, was recorded. Corresponding data were kept for each dead vole caught in a snap trap.

Assistance is acknowledged from Professors E. Raymond Hall, A. Byron Leonard, Worthie H. Horr, and Donald F. Hoffmeister; and I have had also much helpful advice from Professors W. J. Hamilton, Jr., and P. C. Stone.

MOLT

The skins of 44 molting prairie voles were pinned out flat. The flesh sides clearly show the areas of molt. Various stages in the molt process were observed also in animals caught in live traps. The molt begins when the animal is three or four weeks old; at this time the juvenal pelage is replaced by the subadult pelage. The second molt occurs when the prairie vole is between eight and twelve weeks old, and is the means by which the adult pelage replaces the subadult pelage. These same two molts were found by Hatfield (1935) to occur in captive Microtus californicus. Molting voles of the species ochrogaster were trapped in each month of the year.

The molting processes of juveniles and subadults follow the same pattern. The first area of molting is in the pectoral region. The molt patch extends caudad toward the tail and cephalad toward the chin. New pelage separates this area of active molt into two strips on the fourth or fifth day. By this time each strip has spread laterad to the legs and sides, and is 10 to 20 mm. wide. Ultimately each strip unites with its opposite, usually at the center of the dorsum. This area of molt then spreads cephalad and caudad. Fourteen to fifteen days after the beginning of the molt, the entire dorsum is in process of being covered with new pelage. Shortly before the completion of the molt, the dorsal area of molt divides into two patches, one on the rump and one on the nape. The areas last to be covered with new pelage are the crown and that between the ears and the eyes. A slight variation in the above process occurred in some specimens in which the lateral strips joined immediately cephalad of the tail instead of at the center of the dorsum. The entire process takes approximately three weeks.

Large voles (45 grams or more) grow hair in irregular patches that measured 5 to 15 mm. In these large voles the molt is accomplished slowly and does not cover large areas of the body at any one time. The small areas of molt are visible for 7 to 10 days, and were found on approximately three quarters of the large voles examined.

FOOD AND HABITAT

The diet of the prairie vole reflects both its environment and its choice of food. The plants eaten are usually green and succulent, but some dry, hard seeds and small stems of woody plants are also eaten. The vegetation, which supplies the food for the vole, is important as cover or nesting material. For this reason food and habitat are discussed together.