Atlas der Säugetiere Nordrhein-Westfalens

Aquatische Schermaus

2 entries

European water vole

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  entry

Arvicola (amphibius) amphibius

Water Voles are large Voles, which can reach a head-body length of over 20 cm. They live mostly subterranean and construct branching tunnel systems. The excavated soil is transported to the surface similar to the mole and can closely resemble mole-hills. There are two forms of the Water Vole in Central Europe, which can be distinguish in characters of the skull and with respect to their lifestyle. One is the so called European Water vole) Arvicola (amphibius) amphibius (by some authors called Arvicola (terrestris) terrestris) which is supposed to be limited to the riparian zone of water bodies. The other is the Sherman Water Vole, Arvicola (amphibius) scherman, which can also occur in drier areas away from water bodies, gnawing on the roots of garden plants and fruit trees.
The Scherman Water Vole was recorded almost exclusively in North Rhine-Westphalia. Except for the area called "Weeze" in the Lower Rhenian plains, vouchers exist that can be assigned to the European Water Vole. European Water Voles can be found in North- Rhine Westphalia in the riparian areas of water bodies and in wet meadows as well as in drier tall forb communities, in fields, gardens, tree nurseries and orchards.

Author

Jan Ole Kriegs

Citation

Kriegs, JO (2025): Aquatische_Schermaus (Arvicola_(amphibius)_amphibius).In: AG Säugetierkunde NRW — Online-Atlas of the mammals of North Rhine-Westphalia. Downloaded from saeugeratlas-nrw.lwl.org on 2025/04/01