Common Crabgrass vs Gray Red-backed Vole

Digitaria ciliaris compared with Myodes rufocanus

Key Differences

Common Crabgrass is Not Evaluated while Gray Red-backed Vole is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Common Crabgrass	Gray Red-backed Vole
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Liliopsida (Monocots)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Poales (Grasses)	Rodentia (Rodents)
Family	Poaceae (Grass Family)	Cricetidae
Genus	Digitaria	Myodes
Species	Digitaria ciliaris	Myodes rufocanus

Conservation Status

Common Crabgrass

NE — Not Evaluated

Gray Red-backed Vole

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Common Crabgrass	Gray Red-backed Vole
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Common Crabgrass

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (8 countries), Asia (8 countries), Europe (18 countries), North America (10 countries), Oceania and the Pacific (12 countries), and South America (5 countries).

Gray Red-backed Vole

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Range

Found in Norway.

Common Crabgrass

<em>Digitaria ciliaris</em>, commonly known as common crabgrass or southern crabgrass, is an annual grass in the family Poaceae. It has a near-cosmopolitan distribution, occurring across tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions on multiple continents. This species typically colonizes disturbed habitats including lawns, gardens, roadsides, cultivated fields, and waste ground, making it one of the most widespread grass weeds in the world. Common crabgrass spreads rapidly via its sprawling, branching stems that root at the nodes when they contact moist soil. It produces slender, finger-like racemes bearing small, paired spikelets. The species thrives in warm weather and full sun, declining with the onset of cooler autumn temperatures. While it is considered a troublesome weed in many agricultural and horticultural contexts, it also provides ground cover and food for various seed-eating birds. Biological traits of this species remain poorly documented in the scientific literature.