Noteworthy distributional records of the prairie vole in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles

Previous studies have documented the presence of the prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) in the extreme northern panhandle of Texas and north-central Oklahoma, and specimens have been collected from the Oklahoma Panhandle region. In July 2000, 2 prairie voles were captured in Carson County, Texas, 80 km south of the previously reported southern range. Additionally, barn owl (Tyto alba) pellets collected from the northern Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma Panhandle contained prairie vole remains. These remains represent the first records of the prairie vole in Cimarron County, Oklahoma, and Dallam and Sherman counties, Texas, and a new western limit for the prairie vole in Texas and Oklahoma. The specimens collected likely represent a recent southwestern range expansion of the prairie vole in the shortgrass prairies of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles.