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Taxonomy And Zoogeography Of Lemmus Spp. (Rodentia: Arvicolinae), With Notes On Laboratory-Reared Lemmings, Robert L. Rausch, Virginia R. Rausch

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty and Staff Publications

Lemmings of the genus Lemmus Link, 1795, have long attracted interest because of the high numerical densities attained at intervals by their populations. In earlier times, in northern Europe, such events seemed so remarkable as to be explained by some as a consequence of the animals' having fallen from the sky (HaGSTROM 1749). During the last 25 years, lemmings have been the object of intensive ecological investigation in Eurasia and North America, although there has been no consensus concerning their taxonomic relationships. In 1959, a colony of brown lemmings from arctic Alaska was established in our laboratory, primarily to provide …