The Bavarian pine vole (Microtus bavaricus) is a vole from the Austrian, Italian, and Bavarian Alps of Europe. It lived in moist meadows at elevations of 600-1,000 metres. There are 23 museum specimens of this species.
This rodent was previously known from only one location in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany, which has since been altered by the construction of a hospital in the 1980s. No specimens of this rodent were recorded after 1962 and it was thought to be extinct. However, a population apparently belonging to this species was discovered in 2000 in Northern Tyrol, just across the German-Austrian border. An Austrian scientist, Friederike Spitzenberger, stumbled upon the species in one of her "live traps". Its species status has been confirmed by genetic studies, and it is very closely related to Liechtenstein's vole (Microtus liechtensteini) from the Eastern Alps (Martinkova et al., 2007). Further research is required to determine the size and range of the population and the species has been re-assessed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN.
Famous quotes containing the word pine:
“Strange that so few ever come to the woods to see how the pine lives and grows and spires, lifting its evergreen arms to the light,—to see its perfect success; but most are content to behold it in the shape of many broad boards brought to market, and deem that its true success! But the pine is no more lumber than man is, and to be made into boards and houses is no more its true and highest use than the truest use of a man is to be cut down and made into manure.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)