Yellow-necked mouse
Apodemus flavicollis (Melchior, 1834)
The yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis) is a rodent in the family Muridae and subfamily Murinae, within the order Rodentia of the class Mammalia. It is a small, terrestrial, nocturnal herbivore with an adult body mass of 26.7 g, and up to 29.38 g reported by our sources.
Quick facts about the yellow-necked mouse
Gestation lasts 25.94 days, litters average 5.5 young, there are 2.8 litters per year, and sexual maturity is reached at 51.71 days. Its lifespan is 4.2 years, up to 4.5 years, and it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 26.7 g – 29.4 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- 10 cmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- 4.25 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 4.5 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- mountainsrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 25.9 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 5.5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 51.7 dayssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2.8src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the yellow-necked mouse?
Photos of the yellow-necked mouse
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the yellow-necked mouse live?
Not recorded
What is the yellow-necked mouse?
The yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis), also called yellow-necked field mouse or yellow-necked wood mouse, is closely related to the wood mouse, with which it was long confused. It was only recognised as a separate species in 1894. It differs in its band of yellow fur around the neck and in having slightly larger ears and usually being slightly larger overall. Around 100 mm in length, it can climb trees and sometimes overwinters in houses. It is found mostly in mountainous areas of southern Europe, but extends north into parts of Scandinavia and Britain. It facilitates the spread of tick-borne encephalitis to humans and is a reservoir species for the Dobrava virus, a hantavirus that is responsible for causing haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome.
From the Wikipedia article “Yellow-necked mouse” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yellow-necked_mouse&oldid=1323518524), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the yellow-necked mouse endangered?
The yellow-necked mouse is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the yellow-necked mouse classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderRodentia
- familyMuridae
- genusApodemus
- SpeciesApodemus flavicollis (Melchior, 1834)
Synonyms Apodemus arianus, Apodemus brauneri, Apodemus cellarius, Apodemus flavicollis brauneri, Apodemus flavicollis samariensis, Apodemus flavicollis saturatus, Apodemus parvus, Apodemus samariensis, Apodemus wintoni, Mus arianus, Mus cellarius, Mus erythronotus, Mus flavicollis, Mus sylvaticus fennicus, Mus sylvaticus princeps, Mus sylvaticus typicus, Mus sylvaticus wintoni, Sylvaemus sylvaticus stankovici
Other names and names in other languages (17)
- Yellow-necked field mouseEnglish
- Yellow-necked field mouseEnglish
- Yellow-necked mouse, yellow-necked field mouseEnglish
- Llygod BronfelynWelsh
- Llygoden FronfelenWelsh
- HalsbåndmusDanish
- GelbhalsmausGerman
- Ratón LeonadoSpanish
- metsähiiriFinnish
- Mulot à collierFrench
- gulhalsmusNorwegian Bokmål
- stor skogmusNorwegian Bokmål
- HalsbandmuisDutch
- GeelhalsbosmuisDutch
- Grote bosmuisDutch
- halsbandsmusSwedish
- större skogsmusSwedish
Relatives of the yellow-necked mouse
Other species in the same genus Apodemus.
Wood mouse
Apodemus sylvaticus
Striped field mouse
Apodemus agrarius
Ural field mouse
Apodemus uralensis
Eastern broad-toothed field mouse
Apodemus mystacinus
Korean field mouse
Apodemus peninsulae
Taiwan field mouse
Apodemus semotus
CompareYellow-necked mouse vs Wood mouseYellow-necked mouse vs Striped field mouseYellow-necked mouse vs Ural field mouseYellow-necked mouse vs Eastern broad-toothed field mouse
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the yellow-necked mouse?
The yellow-necked mouse is a rodent, a mammal in the family Muridae and the genus Apodemus.
How heavy is a yellow-necked mouse?
An adult Yellow-necked mouse weighs 26.7 g, with up to 29.38 g reported by our sources. It falls in the small size class.
What does the yellow-necked mouse eat?
The yellow-necked mouse is a herbivore.
How long does a yellow-necked mouse live?
The yellow-necked mouse has a lifespan of 4.2 years, with up to 4.5 years reported by our sources.
How many young does a yellow-necked mouse have?
A yellow-necked mouse has 5.5 young per litter and 2.8 litters per year, after a gestation of 25.94 days.
When does a yellow-necked mouse reach sexual maturity?
It reaches sexual maturity at 51.71 days, with reported values from 51.41 to 52 days.
Who named the yellow-necked mouse?
The scientific name Apodemus flavicollis is credited to (Melchior, 1834).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/yellow-necked-mouse
“Yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/yellow-necked-mouse.
@misc{yellow_necked_mouse_2026,
title = {Yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/yellow-necked-mouse},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}