HOME --> CLASS MAMMALIA
--> ORDER RODENTIA
--> SUBORDER MYOMORPHA
--> SUPERFAMILY Muroidea
--> FAMILY Cricetidae
--> SUBFAMILY Cricetinae
GENUS Mesocricetus
Author: | Nehring, 1898. | Citation: | Zool. Anz., 21: 49. | Type Species: | Cricetus nigricans Brandt, 1832 (= Cricetus raddei Nehring, 1894). | Comments: | Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1951) recognized one extant species with six subspecies. Morphological and karyological differences, however, led Hamer and Schutowa (1965) to recognize four genetically isolated species (auratus, brandti, newtoni, and raddei). Popular checklists have recognized either three living species (Corbet, 1978c; Corbet and Hill, 1991) or four living and one recently extinct (Musser and Carleton, 1993; Pavlinov et al., 1995a). Pieper (1984) described M. rathgeberi based on Holocene fossils from the Greek island of Armathia (off coast of Kasos Isl between Kriti and Rodhos). Known from the late Pliocene of Asia and late Pleistocene of Europe (Kowalski, 2001; McKenna and Bell, 1997). |
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