The herb field mouse, Apodemus uralensis (Pallas, 1811): a new species record for the Kuznetsk Basin

As part of the monitoring of non-game fauna in the Kemerovo Region, surveys of the relative abundance of small mammals were conducted in both natural and anthropogenically disturbed habitats. Captures were performed using pitfall traps and Sherman live traps. The study revealed the existence of two isolated populations of the herb field mouse, Apodemus uralensis (Pallas, 1811). A total of 34 individuals of the species were captured. In wastelands and disturbed grass-forb meadows on the southeastern outskirts of Kemerovo City, the herb field mouse is one of the dominant species in the small mammal community. In the southern part of the Kuznetsk Basin, it was found in two adjacent forest reclamation sites established on former opencast coal mines. In 40-year-old mosaic plantings of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera), and silver birch (Betula pendula), the abundance of A. uralensis was 1.2 individuals/100 cylinder-days, while in Cedar-Pine-Maple-Poplar plantings of the same age, it was 2 individuals/100 cylinder-days. The species' share in the community was 11.4% and 3.8%, respectively. A revision of the osteological collection of mammals at the Kemerovo State University, which includes over 3,000 specimens of mice Apodemus and Mus collected from 35 locations in the Kuznetsk-Salair Mountain region, failed to identify any other findings of the herb field mouse apart from those mentioned above. Within the Kuznetsk Basin, A. uralensis inhabits anthropogenically disturbed areas as isolated populations, forming zones of sympatry with other mouse species: the field mouse, the East Asian mouse, and the house mouse. Given the expansion of Kemerovo City boundaries and construction in the habitats of the herb field mouse, a situation has arisen where one of the reliably existing populations is at risk of disappearing from the region's fauna.

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