Vulpes lagopus

• Common Names
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Physical Description

Habitat

Biome: Terrestrial ; Marine

Ecology: Arctic and alpine tundra on the continents of Eurasia , North America and the Canadian archipelago, Siberian islands, Greenland, inland Iceland and Svalbard. Subarctic maritime habitat in the Aleutian island chain, Bering Sea Islands, Commander Islands and coastal Iceland.

The Arctic fox is an opportunistic predator and scavenger but in most inland areas, the species is heavily dependent on fluctuating rodent populations. The species’ main prey items include lemmings, both Lemmus spp. and Dicrostonyx spp. (Macpherson 1969, Angerbjörn et al. 1999). In Fennoscandia, Lemmus lemmus was the main prey in summer (85% frequency of occurrence in faeces ) followed by birds (Passeriformes, Galliformes and Caridriiformes, 34%) and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) (21%; Elmhagen et al. 2000). In winter, ptarmigan and grouse (Lagopus spp.) are common prey in addition to rodents and reindeer (Kaikusalo and Angerbjörn 1995). Changes in fox populations have been observed to follow those of their main prey in three- to five-year cycles (Macpherson 1969, Angerbjörn et al. 1999).

Foxes living near ice-free coasts have access to both inland prey and sea birds, seal carcasses, fish and invertebrates connected to the marine environment, leading to relatively stable food availability and a more generalist strategy (Hersteinsson and Macdonald 1996). In late winter and summer, foxes found in coastal Iceland feed on seabirds (Uria aalge, U. lomvia), seal carcasses and marine invertebrates. Inland foxes rely more on ptarmigan in winter, and migrant birds, such as geese and waders , in summer (Hersteinsson and Macdonald 1996). In certain areas, foxes rely on colonies of Arctic geese, which can dominate their diet locally (Samelius and Lee 1998).

Taxonomy

Unambiguous Synonyms

1. Alopex lagopus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 28-Oct-2003

Similar Species

Members of the genus Vulpes

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 113 species and subspecies in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

V. alopecoides · V. angustidens · V. atlantica · V. bengalensis (Bengal Fox) · V. cana (Blandford's Fox) · V. canus · V. chama (Cape Fox) · V. chikushanensis · V. cinereoargenteus · V. corsac (Corsac Fox) · V. donnezani · V. ferrilata (Tibetan Fox) · V. ferrilatus · V. flavescens · V. fulva · V. fulvipes · V. fulvus · V. galaticus · V. hoole · V. ichnusae · V. indutus · V. japonica · V. lagopus (Pribilof Island Arctic Fox) · V. lagopus beringensis · V. lagopus fuliginosus · V. lagopus lagopus (Arctic Fox) · V. lagopus pribilofensis · V. littoralis · V. macrotis (San Joaquin Kit Fox) · V. macrotis arsipus · V. macrotis devia · V. macrotis macrotis (Kit Fox) · V. macrotis mutica (San Joaquin Kit Fox) · V. macrotis neomexicana · V. macrotis neomexicanus · V. macrotis nevadensis · V. macrotis zinseri · V. macrotus · V. marcrotis · V. muticus · V. pallida (African Sand Fox) · V. pallida edwardsi · V. pallida harterti · V. pallida pallida (African Sand Fox) · V. praecorsac · V. praeglacialis · V. pulcher · V. rueppeli · V. rueppelli (RÜeppell's Fox) · V. rueppellii (Rüppell’s Sand Fox) · V. rueppelli rueppelli · V. rueppelli somaliae · V. ruppelli · V. ruppellii · V. ruppelli sabaea · V. stenognathus · V. vafer · V. velox (Swift Fox) · V. velox arsipus · V. velox hebes (Northern Swift Fox) · V. velox macrotis (San Joaquin Kit Fox) · V. velox mutica (San Joaquin Kit Fox) · V. velox neomexicana · V. velox nevadensis · V. velox tenuirostris · V. velox velox (Swift Fox) · V. velox zinseri · V. vulgaris · V. vulpes (Cross Fox) · V. vulpes abietorum · V. vulpes aegyptiaca · V. vulpes alascensis · V. vulpes alenscensis · V. vulpes anatolica · V. vulpes arabica (Red Fox) · V. vulpes atlantica · V. vulpes bangsi · V. vulpes cascadensis · V. vulpes crucigera · V. vulpes daurica · V. vulpes deletrix · V. vulpes diluta · V. vulpes flavescens · V. vulpes fulva (Eastern Red Fox) · V. vulpes fulvus · V. vulpes griffithi · V. vulpes harrimani · V. vulpes hellenica · V. vulpes hoole · V. vulpes ichnusae · V. vulpes japonica · V. vulpes karagan · V. vulpes kenaiensis · V. vulpes kurdistancia · V. vulpes macroura · V. vulpes montana · V. vulpes necator (Sierra Nevada Red Fox) · V. vulpes palaestina · V. vulpes peculiosa · V. vulpes pusilla

More Info

• Search for Pictures: images.google.com
• Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
• Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
• Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Further Reading

• A check list of mammals of the North American continent, the West Indies and the neighboring seas. Chicago, 1905. ENG url p. 382, p. 383, p. 383, p. 714.
• A list of the land and sea mammals of North America north of Mexico. Supplement to the synopsis. By D.G. Elliot. Chicago, 1901. ENG url p. 507.
• A synopsis of the mammals of North America and the adjacent seas, by Daniel Giraud Elliot... Chicago, [Field Columbia Museum]1901. ENG url p. 470.
• American animals: a popular guide to the mammals of North America north of Mexico, with intimate biographies of the more familiar species / by Witmer Stone and William Everett Cram. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1904. ENG url p. 317.
• American animals; a popular guide to the mammals of North America north of Mexico, with intimate biographies of the more familiar species, by Witmer Stone and William Everett Cram. New York, Doubleday, Page & Company, 1902. ENG url p. 273, p. 317.
• Animal ecology, by Charles Elton; with an introduction by Julian S. Huxley. New York, Macmillan Co., 1927. ENG url p. 182.
• Annalen des K.K. Naturhistorischen Hofmuseums. Wien: Alfred Hlder, 1886-1917. GER url p. 507, p. 514.
• Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien. Wien, Naturhistorisches Museum [etc.] GER url p. 12, p. 248, p. 507, p. 514.
• Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, -1965. ENG url p. 140, p. 452, p. 555, p. 72, p. 72, p. 73, p. 73.
• Annual reports of the Department of Agriculture.. . Washington: G.P.O., [1894?]-1924. ENG url p. 44.
• Anzeiger der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe. Wien: Der Akademie, 1864-1914. ENG url p. 135.
• Archiv für Naturgeschichte. Berlin: Nicolai, 1835- GER url p. 258, p. 271, p. 272, p. 276, p. 278, p. 299, p. 5.
• Bibliographia zoologica. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, 1896-1934. MUL url p. 392, p. 68.
• Biologisches Zentralblatt. Leipzig [etc.]VEB Georg Thieme [etc.] GER url p. 928.
• Brehm's Life of animals: a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools. by Alfred Edmund Brehm; copiously illustrated with wood cuts and color-plates by Fr. Specht.. . [et al]; translated from the third German editi Chicago: Marquis, 1895. ENG url p. 238.
• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. ENG url p. 150, p. 189, p. 304, p. 315, p. 49, p. 681, p. 82.
• Bulletin biologique de la France et de la Belgique. Montreuil [etc.]Gauther-Villars [etc.] FRE url p. 93.
• Carnegie Institution of Washington publication. Washington, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1902- ENG url p. 265, p. 276, p. 277.
• Catalogue of Mammalia in the Indian Museum, Calcutta / by John Anderson, Superintendent of the Indian Museum. Calcutta, 1881-1891. ENG url p. 264.
• Catalogue of carnivorous, pachydermatous and edentate Mammalia.. . in the.. . Museum / by J.E. Gray London, 1869. ENG url p. 208.
• Catalogue of the bones of mammalia in the collection of the British Museum / [compiled by Edward Gerrard]. London: printed by Taylor and Francis, by order of the Trustees, 1862 ENG url p. 88.
• Catalogue of the mammals of Western Europe (Europe exclusive of Russia) in the collection of the British museum, by Gerrit S. Miller. London, Printed by order of the Trustees, 1912. ENG url p. 1007, p. 1017.
• Catalogue of the mammals of western Europe (Europe exclusive of Russia) in the collection of the British Museum / by Gerrit S. Miller. London: BMNH, 1912. ENG url p. 1007, p. 1017, p. 324.
• College zoology, by Robert W. Hegner. New York, The Macmillan company, 1912. ENG url p. 653.
• Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des s©ances de l'Acad©mie des sciences. Paris: publi©s avec le concours du Centre national de la recherche scientifique par MM. les secr©taires perp©tuels: -1965. FRE url p. 700.
• Distribution and origin of life in America, by Robert Francis Scharff. New York: Macmillan, 1912. ENG url p. 11.
• Entomologische berichten. Amsterdam. MUL url p. 218.
• Fauna arctica: eine Zusammenstellung der arktischen Tierformen mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des Spitzbergen-Gebietes auf Grund der Ergebnisse der Deutschen Expedition in das Nördliche Eismeer im Jahre 1898 / Unter Mitwirkung zahlreicher Fachgenossen h Jena: G. Fischer, 19 GER url p. 19, p. 28.
• Fauna och flora: populr tidskrift fr biologi. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksells, 1906-1967; SWE url p. 122, p. 66.
• Fauna of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska Peninsula, by Olaus J. Murie. Invertebrates and fishes collected in the Aleutians, 1936-38, by Victor B. Scheffer. [Washington, Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1959] ENG url p. 292.
• Faune des mammifs d'Europe. Berlin, R. Friedler, 1910. FRE url p. 96.
• Grønland-Expedition der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin, 1891-1893 / unter Leitung von Erich von Drygalski. Berlin: W.H. Kühl, 1897. GER url p. 226.
• Jahrbücher des Nassauischen Vereins für Naturkunde. Wiesbaden: J.F. Bergmann, GER url p. 182.
• Le Jardin des plantes: description par m. Boitard; prd'une introd. historique, descriptive et pittoresque par m. J. Janin. Paris: G. Barba, [1851]. FRE url p. 162.
• Le Naturaliste canadien. Neufchâtel, QC: Éditions, l'Ardoise [etc.] FRE url p. 201, p. 264.
• Leopoldina. Dresen: E. Blochmann & Sohn, GER url p. 19, p. 36.
• Les Mammiferes de la province de Quc. Quc, 1902. FRE url p. 243.
• Material for a bibliography of North American mammals, prepared by Theodore Gill and Elliott Coues. Extracted from the eleventh volume of the final reports of the Survey, being Appendix B of the monographs of North American Rodentia. By Elliott Coues and Washington, Govt. print. off., 1877. ENG url p. 1016.
• Meddelanden af Societatis pro Fauna et Flora Fennica. Helsingfors[Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica] SWE url p. 13, p. 135, p. 199, p. 252, p. 260, p. 33.
• Narrative of a voyage to the Polar Sea during 1875-6 in H.M. ships 'Alert' and 'Discovery' / by Capt. Sir G.S. Nares.. . With notes on the natural history, edited by H.W. Feilden.. . London: S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1878. ENG url p. 378.
• Narrative of the Arctic land expedition to the mouth of the Great Fish River, and along the shores of the Arctic Ocean in the years 1833, 1834, and 1835 / by Captain Back, R.N., commander of the expedition; illustrated by a map and plates. London: John Murray.. ., 1836 ENG url p. 494.
• Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau: wöchentliche Berichte über die Fortschritte auf dem Gesammtgebiete der Naturwissenschaften. Braunschweig: Druck und verlag von Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn, 1886- GER url p. 24, p. 34, p. 409.
• Nyt magazin for naturvidenskaberne / udgives af den Physiographiske forening i Christiania. Christiania [Oslo]: Johan Dahl, 1836-1934. NOR url p. 71, p. 74.
• Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. [Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia] ENG url p. 601.
• Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. [Washington, Biological Society of Washington] ENG url p. 170.
• Proceedings of the United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.] ENG url p. 1, p. 462, p. 528, p. 555, p. 564, p. 566, p. 567, p. 610.
• Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences. Washington, Washington Academy of Sciences. ENG url p. 15.
• Report upon natural history collections made in Alaska between the years 1877 and 1881 / by Edward W. Nelson. Ed. by Henry W. Henshaw. Washington, Govt. Print. Off.1887. ENG url p. 231, p. 32.
• Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe. Wien: K.-k. Hof-und Staatsdruckerei in Commission bei Karl Gerold's Sohn, GER url p. 324, p. 357.
• Smithsonian miscellaneous collections. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1862-1968. ENG url p. 179, p. 189, p. 49, p. 70.
• Systematic results of the study of North American land mammals to the close of the year 1900, by Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., and James A. G. Rehn. Boston, Society of Natural History, 1901. ENG url p. 206.
• The Canadian naturalist and geologist. Montreal, Dawson. ENG url p. 217, p. 248.
• The Canadian naturalist and quarterly journal of science. Montreal, Dawson. ENG url p. 152.
• The Ottawa naturalist. Ottawa, Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club. ENG url p. 108.
• The birds of Siberia; a record of a naturalist's visits to the valleys of the Petchora and Yenesei, by Henry Seebohm.. . London, J. Murray, 1901. ENG url p. 511.
• The natural history review. Dublin: Hodges & Smith, 1854-1865. ENG url p. 272.
• Travels of a naturalist in northern Europe, Norway, 1871, Archangel, 1872, Petchora, 1875, by J. A. Harvie-Brown.. . with coloured plates and other illustrations and 4 maps.. . London, T. F. Unwin, 1905. ENG url p. 157.
• Trematodes of the Pacific Northwest, an annotated catalog [by] Ivan Pratt [and] James E. McCauley. Corvallis, Oregon State University Press[1961] ENG url p. 113.
• Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, 1849- GER url p. 217.
• Zoologische Jahrbücher. Jena [Germany]: G. Fischer, GER url p. 15, p. 191.
• Zoologischer Anzeiger. Jena, VEB Gustav Fischer Verlag. GER url p. 312.
• Zoologischer Jahresbericht. Berlin, R. Friedlander. GER url p. 247.
• Zoologisches Centralblatt. Leipzig: W. Engelmann, [1894-1902] GER url p. 36, p. 692.
• Über die Entwicklungsgeschichte der gegenwärtigen phanerogamen Flora und Pflanzendecke der skandinavischen Halbinsel und der benachbarten schwedischen und norwegischen Inseln / von August Schulz. Stuttgart: E. Schweizerbart, 1900. GER url p. 178.

Notes

Contributors

• Angerbjörn, A., Hersteinsson , P. and Tannerfeldt, M. 2004. Alopex lagopus. In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org . Downloaded on 14 January 2007.
• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2006. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed October 3, 2006.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2007. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed March 20, 2007.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed April 30, 2006. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 7 providers.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 29, 2008:

• Burke Museum: Mammal Specimens
• European Environment Agency: EUNIS
• GBIF-Sweden: Mammals (NRM)
• James R. Slater Museum of Natural History: Terrestrial vertebrates
• Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History: Vertebrate specimens
• Marine Science Institute, UCSB: Paleobiology Database
• Michigan State University Museum: Vertebrate specimens
• Museum of Vertebrate Zoology: Terrestrial vertebrate specimens
• Royal Ontario Museum: Mammal specimens
• Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History: Santa Barbara Musem of Natural History
• Sternberg Museum of Natural History: Mammal Collection
• University of Alaska Museum of the North: University of Alaska Museum Mammal Collection
• University of Alaska Museum of the North: University of New Mexico Museum of Southwestern Biology Mammal Collection
• University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (UMMZ): Mammal specimens
• Utah Museum of Natural History: Mammal specimens

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3296946
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-622088
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 622025
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: AMAJA02010
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 1758

©2004-2009 the BayScience Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.