Rodentia: Gnawing Mammals

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Rodentia Gnawing Mammals
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Rodentia Checklist

• one pair of upper and lower incisors
• each enlarged, sharply beveled, ever-growing
• enamel on outer surface only
• diastama between incisors and premolars
• other skull features

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Sciuridae Squirrels
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Gray SquirrelSciurus caroliniensis

• melanistic (black) form in some areas
• Besides nuts, also eat flowers, bark, buds, bird
  eggs, insects, carrion

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Fox SquirrelSciurus niger

• fox refers to the reddish color
• less arboreal, favors more open habitats

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Red SquirrelTamiasciurus hudsonicus

• favors evergreens to mixed forests
• store unripe cones in middens
• also eat bird eggs, mushrooms
• loud and vocal

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Southern Flying SquirrelGlaucomys volans

• more common of the two species
• glide rather than powered flight
• prefers deciduous woods
• diet of fungi, lichens, nuts, seeds, bird eggs,
  sap

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Northern Flying SquirrelGlaucomys sabrinus

• prefer coniferous woods
• doesnt hibernate
• eat hypogenous fungi
• susceptible to nematode parasite, Stongyloides
  robustus
• G. volans is less susceptible

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Eastern ChipmunkTamias striatus

• Facial stripes
• Cheek pouches
• 1 in east, 21 in west

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WoodchuckMarmota monax

• are a ground squirrel
• AKA groundhog, whistle-pig
• true hibernators
• burrow up to 30

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CastoridaeBeaverCastor canadensis

• our largest rodent
• perhaps most important animal in settling of
  North America
• tail slapping threat behavior
• can remain submerged 15 minutes

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CricetidaeNative Rats, Mice Voles

• Largest family of NA mammals

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MuskratOndatra zibethicus

• feed on cattails and aquatic plants
• actively scent-mark territories, hence the name
• domed huts
• tapered, hairless, scaly tail differs from
  beavers flat tail

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Deer MousePeromyscus maniculatus
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White-footed MousePeromyscus leucopus
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Eastern WoodratNeotoma floridana
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Southern Red-backed VoleClethrionomys gapperi
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Meadow VoleMicrotus pennsylvanicus
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Rock VoleMicrotus chrotorrhinus
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Woodland VoleMicrotus pinetorum
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Southern Bog LemmingSynaptomys cooperi
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Muridae Old World Rats Mice
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Norway Rat (I)Rattus norvegicus
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House Mouse (I)Mus musculus
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Meadow Jumping MouseZapus hudsonius
Zapodidae Jumping Mice
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Woodland Jumping MouseNapaeozapus insignis
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PorcupineErethizon dorsatum
Erethizontidae Porcupines

• quills are modified hairs with barbed tip
• few predators except Fisher
• in winter, feed on inner bark of trees
• more varied diet in summer

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