The Calabria pine vole (''Microtus brachycercus'') is a

vole Voles are small rodents that are relatives of lemmings and hamsters, but with a stouter body; a longer, hairy tail; a slightly rounder head; smaller eyes and ears; and differently formed molars (high-crowned with angular cusps instead of low-c ...

found in southern and central

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

initially described by Lehmann as a subspecies of '' M. savii''. Genetic tests in the Calabrian region found, although similar, the X chromosome is larger than that of samples of ''M. savii'' found elsewhere in Italy and the Y chromosome is twice the size, leading Galleni in 1994 to designate ''M. brachycercus'' as a separate species.

References

* D.E. Wilson & D.M. Reeder, 2005: Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. Third Edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.. Microtus Rodents of Europe Endemic fauna of Italy Mammals described in 1961 {{Microtus-stub