Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2018
Publication Title
Banisteria: A Journal Devoted to the Natural History of Virginia
Volume
50
Pages
3-9
Abstract
The isolated subspecies of Southern Bog Lemming of southeastern Virginia, Synaptomys cooperi helaletes, has been studied extensively since its "rediscovery" in the Great Dismal Swamp in 1980. Multiple studies using pitfall traps, starting in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and then extending elsewhere in southeastern Virginia and adjacent northeastern North Carolina, have revealed lemmings to be much more widespread and often more common than previously believed, with their presence now confirmed as far west as Surry and Sussex counties, about 30 km east of Petersburg, Virginia. When present, lemmings often are among the most numerous members of the small mammal community. Even in appropriate habitat, its presence seemingly is determined by its proximity to another arvicoline rodent, the Meadow Vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus, which usually is larger and perhaps competitively and behaviorally dominant.
Rights
Open access under the Creative Commons license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).
© 2018 Virginia Natural History Society
Original Publication Citation
Rose, R. K. (2018). Natural history of the southern bog lemming in southeastern Virginia. Banisteria: A Journal Devoted to the Natural History of Virginia, 50, 3-9. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/298137
Repository Citation
Rose, Robert K., "Natural History of the Southern Bog Lemming in Southeastern Virginia" (2018). Biological Sciences Faculty Publications. 431.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/biology_fac_pubs/431
ORCID
0000-0001-9341-1615 (Rose)
Included in
Biodiversity Commons, Biology Commons, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Zoology Commons