Lasiopodomys brandtii

The status of Brandt's vole species is stable, but there has been a long-standing debate about which genus it belongs to. Sometimes it is placed in the genus Microtus and sometimes in the genus Phaiomys. Molecular systematics finally confirmed that it is an independent genus, namely the genus Lasiopodomys. There is no subspecies differentiation. It mainly inhabits grassland areas with heavy sand and is distributed in clusters. In its suitable habitat, the population is generally large, often causing serious damage to the grassland. It is the natural host of plague bacteria. It is active both during the day and at night in summer.

Brandt's vole is similar in shape to the genus, with rather coarse and short fur, a rather short tail, which is covered with a layer of straight and hard fur, short ears, claws on the front feet, sandy yellow back fur, black-brown base of the guard hair, grayish yellow hair tips, and light yellow belly fur.

Brandt's voles are active during the day. They come out of their burrows at noon in spring and winter, and are active frequently in the morning and afternoon when the temperature is low in summer. They are active all day in autumn. In January and February in winter, they usually block the entrance of their burrows and live in the burrows on their stored food, but they still go out on windless and sunny days. In spring, starting from mid-March, Brandt's voles' activities on the ground increase rapidly, with a peak activity from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., in a single peak shape. The range of activity is larger than in other seasons, and can reach up to 500m. In the summer, they spend the longest time on the ground, more than 15-16 hours, leaving the burrows early and returning to the burrows late. There are two peaks of activity every day, early morning and evening.

Brandt's voles have strong burrowing ability and complex burrow systems, which can be roughly divided into three types, namely wintering burrows, summer burrows and temporary burrows. The structure of temporary burrows is very simple, usually with only two holes, and there is a 1-3m long tunnel between the holes. Summer burrows are mostly newly dug burrow systems without warehouses; the nest chambers are small, the largest is 17cmX17cmX23cm; the toilets are not obvious, usually with 3-10 holes, and the total length of the tunnel is 4-11m. Wintering burrow systems are all burrow systems that have been used for more than one year, and the structure is the most complex. Each burrow system usually has 8-16 holes, sometimes up to dozens, and the holes are connected by runways. The underground part of the wintering burrow has nest chambers, warehouses, toilets, etc., and there are criss-crossing underground tunnels between each part. Most of the tunnels are located at a vertical depth of 12-22cm from the ground, and open to the ground with oblique tunnels of 17-40cm. The diameter of the tunnel and the entrance is 4-5cm. Sometimes the upward tunnel forms a blind end when it is close to the ground. Each tunnel system usually has only one main nest chamber, and sometimes up to 4. The nest chamber is usually the deepest part of the tunnel system, and the vertical depth of its top from the ground is generally 29-37cm; the most common nesting materials are multiple scallions, mixed with plants such as cleistotheca. There are as few as 4 or 5 underground tunnels leading to the nest chamber, and as many as more than 10. In addition, in the same tunnel system, in addition to the nest chamber, at the intersection of the tunnel, there can be a bulge part, which also has bedding grass, but its volume is much smaller than the wintering nest. Each wintering tunnel system generally has 1 or 2 warehouses, and as many as 4 or 5; most of the warehouses are irregularly long and located at the edge of the tunnel system. The span of the warehouse is large, and the roof is thin, so it is easy for livestock to trample. Especially when riding and running, they suddenly fall into the water, often causing casualties of people and animals. In addition, several toilets with piles of rat feces can be found in the cave system.

46% of the food eaten by Brandt's voles is sheep grass, and the other 8%-19% is Artemisia frigida, inch grass platform, multi-rooted onion and needle grass. Adults weighing 42-55g eat 38g of fresh grass per day in summer, which is about 14.5g if converted into hay. [2] Brandt's voles do not hibernate, but have the habit of storing food in the fall. They start storing food in late August or early September. When storing food, the mice will clean up old warehouses or dig new ones, and new loose soil and moldy grass debris will begin to appear on the holes. The activities of mice picking up grass become more and more frequent, and the runways become more clearly visible at this time. The stored food in the warehouses is generally classified and relatively neat, and the total amount of food stored in each hole system can reach more than 10kg.

Brandt's voles reach sexual maturity early, reaching sexual maturity at one month old. The first litter is generally born at two months old. They have strong reproductive capacity, and the breeding season is from March to August. They start breeding when the monthly average temperature is above 10℃, and stop breeding in autumn when the monthly average temperature is below 10℃. It breeds 2-3 times a year, with 2-15 pups per litter, 7-8 on average. The breeding season is concentrated in spring, with 8-10 pups being the most common in spring and 7-9 pups being the most common in summer.

Listed in the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, ver 3.1 - Least Concern (LC).

In China, it is distributed in Inner Mongolia, Jilin, and Hebei.

Brandt's voles mainly live in the northern temperate zone's Stipa steppes, and they particularly prefer environments with Artemisia frigida, Allium multirootum, and Cleistogenes as their habitats.

The claws are strong and black. These characteristics make this species suitable for digging and fast movement in sand. The body length is 110-130mm. The tail is very short, 20-30mm, and the back of the body is sandy or beige. There is no boundary between the dorsal and ventral hair colors, the ventral hair is slightly lighter, and the upper and lower tails are the same color. The ears are short, slightly exposed outside the hair, and covered with dense hair. The skull and teeth are similar in morphology to voles. The rear edge of the palatine bone forms a longitudinal ridge, with pterygoid fossa on both sides, and the upper and lower molars are composed of a series of triangles.