Apodemus
genus of mammals
Apodemus is a genus of murid (true mice and rats) containing the field mice as well as other well-known species like the wood mouse and the yellow-necked mouse. The name is unrelated to that of the Mus genus, instead being derived from the Greek ἀπό-δημος (literally away from home).
Taxonomy
Related to the Ryūkyū spiny rats (Tokudaia) and the prehistoric Rhagamys – and far more distantly to Mus and Malacomys – it includes these species:
Apodemus sensu stricto
Striped field mouse, A. agrarius
Small Japanese field mouse, A. argenteus
Chevrier's field mouse, A. chevrieri
Alsomys
South China field mouse, A. draco
Himalayan field mouse, A. gurkha
Sichuan field mouse, A. latronum
Korean field mouse, A. peninsulae
Taiwan field mouse, A. semotus
Large Japanese field mouse, A. speciosus
Sylvaemus
Alpine field mouse, A. alpicola
Yellow-necked mouse, A. flavicollis – includes A. arianus
Caucasus field mouse, A. hyrcanicus
Ward's field mouse, A. pallipes
Black Sea field mouse, A. ponticus
Wood mouse, A. sylvaticus
Ural field mouse, A. uralensis
Pygmy field mouse, A. u. microps
Cimrman Ural field mouse, A. u. cimrmani
Steppe field mouse, A. witherbyi
Karstomys
Western broad-toothed field mouse, A. epimelas
Eastern broad-toothed field mouse, A. mystacinus
Kashmir field mouse, A. rusiges
Incertae sedis
Apodemus avicennicus Darvish, Javidkar & Siahsarvie, 2006
Prehistoric species described from fossil remains include:
A. gorafensis (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Italy)
A. dominans (Kolzoi 1959)
References
Further reading
Musser, G. G.; Carleton, M. D. (2005). "Superfamily Muroidea". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Apodemus” is genus of mammals. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Apodemus, genus and mammals, not as a finished interpretation.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q739059. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2006, 1959 and 2005.
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This entry incorporates text from “Apodemus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.