Florida Saltmarsh Vole

Microtus dukecampbelli

US ESA: endangered
NENot Evaluated
Saltmarsh-Vole1AI-generated image: Florida salt marsh vole moving through cordgrass stems. No additional license-safe photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracyAI-generated image: Florida salt marsh vole sitting on muddy marsh wrack. No additional license-safe photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracy
Photo: Michael Mitchell · Public domainSaltmarsh-Vole1AI-generated image No additional license-safe photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracyFlorida salt marsh vole moving through cordgrass stemsAI-generated image No additional license-safe photograph of this species exists. This image was generated with AI from verified reference material and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracyFlorida salt marsh vole sitting on muddy marsh wrack

The Florida saltmarsh vole is one of North America's most narrowly distributed mammals, known from a small area of salt marsh on Florida's Gulf Coast. It moves beneath dense grasses above wet, salty soil and feeds largely on plants. So few animals and sites are known that storms, rising seas, habitat damage, and chance events can matter greatly. Much of its daily life remains difficult to observe.

US Range

IUCN Red List status

NE – Not Evaluated

Not yet assessed against IUCN Red List criteria.

Commonly confused with

Animals people sometimes mistake for the florida saltmarsh vole, and how to tell them apart.

Microtus pennsylvanicus nbii h00362

Photo:John J. MosessoWikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Meadow Vole

Microtus pennsylvanicus

How to tell apart The Florida saltmarsh vole is a coastal subspecies of the meadow vole and looks nearly identical, but it stays confined to salt marsh at Waccasassa Bay while the meadow vole ranges across open grassy fields in the eastern United States.

View species page Compare side by side

Life beneath marsh grass

This compact brown vole uses thick stands of saltmarsh grass for food, shade, and concealment. Runways under the vegetation let it move without crossing much open ground. Plant stems and leaves form much of its diet. Flooding can rearrange this low habitat quickly.

An exceptionally small known range

The vole is known from the lower Waccasassa Bay area on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Its distribution may shift with suitable marsh, but surveys have found very few occupied places. Sparse records don’t mean researchers know the population size. They instead show how little confirmed habitat has been documented.

Water can reshape everything

Sea-level rise, stronger storm flooding, erosion, and changes to freshwater flow can alter salt levels and vegetation. Roads and shoreline development can block movement toward higher ground. Protecting both present marsh and future inland migration space gives the vole more options. Connected higher ground may become increasingly important as coastal water levels rise.

Sources

  1. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Florida salt marsh vole species profile
  2. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – 2026 recovery update
  3. NatureServe Explorer – meadow vole taxonomy account
  4. American Society of Mammalogists – Mammal Diversity Database

Data & sources

The data and visualizations on this page draw on these open sources:

  • GBIFCC-BY 4.0occurrence records behind the range map, elevation, and record counts
  • PhyloPicCC0 / CC-BY per itemthe to-scale silhouettesAndrew A. Farke (human silhouette, CC-BY 3.0)
  • IUCN Red Listattributed factthe global conservation status