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 MalacomysSteppan et al. (2005) – 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
Steppan, S.J.; Adkins, R.M.; Spinks, P.Q. & Hale, C. (2005): Multigene phylogeny of the Old World mice, Murinae, reveals distinct geographic lineages and the declining utility of mitochondrial genes compared to nuclear genes. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 37(2): 370–388. PDF fulltext Darvish, J.; Javidkar, M.; Siahsarvie, R. 2006. A new species of wood mouse of the genus Apodemus (Rodentia, Muridae) from Iran Zoology in the Middle East