We report a PCR survey of hantavirus infection in an extensive field vole (Microtus agrestis) population present in the Kielder Forest, northern England. A Tatenale virus-like lineage was frequently detected (≈17% prevalence) in liver tissue. Lineages genetically similar to Tatenale virus are likely to be endemic in northern England.

Djungarian hamsters (Phodopus sungorusi were observed in a series oflaboratory tests, including home cage activity, wheel running, open-field behavior, sexual dimorphism for body mass, copulatory behavior, tonic and dorsal immobility, climbing, digging, nest building, and parental behavior. Fourteen resulting measures were compared with previous results from this laboratory from a variety ofmur...

Females of at least 8 species of rodent will terminate pregnancies after exposure to a "strange" male or his odors in the laboratory. Although only suggestive evidence exists for the occurrence of pregnancy interruption in the field, this laboratory phenomenon has been assigned important adaptive roles in the reproductive biology of rodents. In the present study, the extent of pregnancy interru...

An increase in grassland rodent pests China has seriously affected ecological environments and the development of husbandry. Here, we used remote sensing data a species–environmental matching model to predict potential spatial distribution five major pest species (Microtus, Citellus, Myospalax, Meriones, Ochotona) northern China, examined how predicted suitability area depends on environmental ...

In a replicated experiment, nonbreeding winter populations of Microtus montanus were given supplements of rolled oats coated with 6-methoxybenzoxazolinone, a naturally occurring plant derivative. After 3 weeks of this feeding regime, samples from the populations demonstrated a high incidence of pregnancy in females and testicular hypertrophy in males. Control populations receiving rolled oats c...

Paranoplocephala etholeni n. sp., parasitizing the meadow vole Microtus pennsylvanicus in Alaska and Wisconsin, USA, is described. Paranoplocephala etholeni is morphologically most closely related to the Nearctic Paranoplocephala ondatrae (Rausch, 1948). Available data suggest that P. etholeni is a host-specific, locally rare species that may have a wide but sporadic geographical distribution i...

Experimental manipulation of energy expenditure has long been recognized as an effective means for identifying causative effects and avoiding confounded interpretations arising from spurious correlations. This approach has been successfully applied mainly to studies on birds, particularly on reproducing adults, whereas manipulations in mammals have proved more problematic. Here, we tested the h...