Alopex lagopus
24. Arctic Fox Alopex lagopus French: Renard arctique / German: Polarfuchs / Spanish: Zorro artico Other common names: Polar Fox Taxonomy. Canis lagopus Linnaeus, 1758, Lapland, Sweden. Sometimes placed as subgenus of Vulpes or Canis. The most closely related species are V. velox and V. macrotis, ne...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Other/Unknown Material |
| Language: | unknown |
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Lynx Edicions
2009
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| Online Access: | https://zenodo.org/record/6335049 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6335049 |
| Summary: | 24. Arctic Fox Alopex lagopus French: Renard arctique / German: Polarfuchs / Spanish: Zorro artico Other common names: Polar Fox Taxonomy. Canis lagopus Linnaeus, 1758, Lapland, Sweden. Sometimes placed as subgenus of Vulpes or Canis. The most closely related species are V. velox and V. macrotis, neither of which occur in the tundra. Four subspecies recognized. Subspecies and Distribution. A. l. lagopus Linnaeus, 1758 — most of the circumpolar range, in all Arctic tundra habitats. A. l. beringensis Merriam, 1902 — Russia (Commander Is). A. l. fuliginosus Bechstein, 1799 — Iceland, Greenland, Svalbard. A.l. pribilofensis Merriam, 1902 — Alaska (Pribilof Is). Descriptive notes. Head-body 55-75 cm (males), 50-65 cm (females), tail 28-42- 5 cm for males and 25- 5-32 cm females; weight 3-58- 4-23 kg for males and 3-14- 3-69 kg for females. Males are slightly larger than females. A small fox with rather short legs and a long fluffy tail. Thick and soft winter fur with dense underfur and long guard hairs. Occurs in two distinct color morphs, “blue” and “white”. Both morphs change seasonally: “blue” molts from chocolate brown in summer to paler brown tinged with blue sheen in winter. In winter, the “white” morph is almost pure white with a few dark hairs at the tip of the tail and along the spine; in summer,it is brown dorsally and pale gray to white on its underside. Color morphs are determined genetically at a single locus, “white” being recessive. The “blue” morph comprisesless than 1% of the population throughout most of its continental range, but comprises 25-30% in Fennoscandia (Norway, Sweden, and Finland) and 65-70% in Iceland. The proportion of “blue” morphs also increases in coastal areas and on islands, where it can reach up to 100% (e.g. Mednyi Island, Russia; St. Paul Island, Alaska). Within each morph, there is considerable variation in appearance, which seems to be independent of the genetic locus for color morph. In Sweden, there occasionally are sand-colored foxes in summer, but they appear to be of the ... |
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