Living in an area calculated at little over 500 km², the Tarabundi Vole has one of the smallest geographical ranges of any vole in the Americas. Its common name derives from the locality in the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca where the species was first recorded, within a very specific fragment of mountain cloud forest. Like other voles, it excavates a network of shallow burrows under dense ground vegetation, a habit allowing it to move protected both from predators and from the colder conditions of its high-altitude habitat. Its extreme geographical restriction, combined with the increasing fragmentation of the Oaxacan cloud forest, places it among the Mexican rodents at highest risk of extinction.
A small, compact rodent with a cylindrical body, short tail, small ears barely visible in the fur, and dark brown pelage. It differs from other voles in the Oaxaca region by its distribution being extremely restricted to a very specific area of the Sierra Norte, as well as by cranial details requiring direct examination for reliable separation from sibling species.
Tiny track, barely 1-1.5 cm long, with 4 fore and 5 hind toes, rarely visible except in fine mud alongside its runs. Small, cylindrical droppings, 4-6 mm long, left in small piles along the surface runways it excavates under dense cloud forest vegetation. These surface runways, 3-4 cm wide and visible as flattened tunnels through the vegetation when parted, are the most reliable tracks and signs of its presence.
Mountain cloud forest with dense understorey and damp soil, generally between 1500 and 2500 m altitude. Endemic to a very small area of barely 500 km² in the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca, southern Mexico.
Herbivorous, feeding on grass, tender stems and roots in the damp mountain understorey.
It excavates a network of shallow burrows and surface runways under dense vegetation, exhibiting territorial behaviour and activity spread over short periods throughout the day and night.
Its extremely small and fragmented range, combined with the ongoing loss of cloud forest in the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca, leaves its populations in continuous decline.
Deforestation and fragmentation of cloud forest through agricultural and livestock expansion, alongside the species' extreme geographical restriction to a very small area.
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