Canadian lemming
species of mammal
The Canadian lemming or Nearctic brown lemming (Lemmus trimucronatus) is a small North American lemming.
Taxonomy
The taxonomy of the Canadian lemming is tangled with the Siberian brown lemming and the Beringian lemming.
The Canadian lemming was formerly thought to be a subspecies of the Siberian brown lemming (Lemmus sibiricus), but those were split into two distinct species. They were still considered the same species as the Beringian lemming (Lemmus nigripes); the combined species was named the North American brown lemming with the scientific name L. trimucronatus, and was thought to range from eastern Siberia to North America. Recent phylogenetic studies showed them to also be distinct species, although sister groups to one another.
Physical characteristics
Lemmings are a brown in colour, with a reddish-brown back and rump, while the head and shoulders are grey. In the winter, the coat becomes longer and greyer. The female averages 12.5 cm (4.9 in) in length and weighs 58 g (2.0 oz), while the male averages 13 cm (5.1 in) and weighs 68 g (2.4 oz). Like other lemmings, it has small ears, short legs and a very short tail. The feet, both the soles and toes, are covered with bristles and are adapted for burrowing.
“Canadian lemming” enters the record as species of mammal. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Canadian, lemming and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Canadian lemming” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Canadian, lemming and species provides the most credible route into that argument.
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 Apr 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1769625. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Canadian lemming” 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.