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HOME --> CLASS MAMMALIA
--> ORDER LAGOMORPHA
--> FAMILY Ochotonidae
GENUS Ochotona
| Author: | Link, 1795. | | Citation: | Beitr. Naturgesch., 2: 74. | | Type Species: | Ochotona minor Link, 1795 (= Lepus dauuricus Pallas, 1776). | | Comments: | There have been no grounds for recognizing subgenera due to lack of a phylogenetic analysis of specific relationships within the genus. The subgeneric classifications published (e.g., Allen, 1938; Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951; Erbajeva, 1988; Ognev, 1940) differ dramatically, even when based on the same distinguishing characteristics (morphology of dentition and of incisive and palatal foramina). However, a recent phylogenetic analysis (Yu et al., 2000) based on molecular sequencing, divides the genus into three groups. These were termed "shrub-steppe", "mountain" and "northern". The shrub steppe group includes 7 species that had previously been placed in subgenus Ochotona; those in the northern group (N=5) in subgenus Pika; and 7 species in the mountain group had been placed in either subgenus, though predominately in Ochotona. The oldest available name for this third subgenus might appear to be Lagomys Cuvier, 1800, but the name is unavailable since Palmer (1904:361) fixed the type as Ochotona (Pika) alpina Pallas. Moreover, both Cuvier’s and Olgilby’s (1839) Lagomys are junior homonyms of Lagomys Storr, 1780, which was a renaming of Arctomys Schreber, 1780, which in turn became a junior synonym of Marmota Blumenbach, 1779 (I. Ya. Pavlinov, pers. comm.). The earliest available name for the third subgenus thus becomes Conothoa Lyon, 1904, type species O. roylei. The name is a rearrangement of the letters in "Ochotona". Reviewed by Sokolov et al. (1994). Considerable confusion remains as to the placement of subspecies within species and the independence of some species. |
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