Marmota baibacina Kastschenko, 1899 . Res. Altaisk. Exp., p. 63.

TYPE LOCALITY: U.S. S. R., R.S.F.S. R., Altaisk. Krai, Gorno-Altaisk. A.O., near Cherga, or, alternatively, Multa River, near Nizhne-Uimon .

DISTRIBUTION: Altai Mtns., S.E. Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, S. W. Siberia (U.S. S.R.); Mongolia; Sinkiang (China). Introduced into Caucasus Mtns. (U.S. S.R.).

COMMENT: Placed by Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951:514, in marmota, and by Corbet, 1978:81, in bobak; Kapitonov, 1966, Trud. Inst. Zool. Kazakh. Akad. Nauk, 26:94- 134, analyzed purported hybridization between baibacina and bobak . Most Soviet authors retain both as distinct species; see Gromov et al., 1965:337-387, and Zimina, ed., 1978, [Marmots. Distribution and Ecology], “Nauka,” Moscow, who included centralis in this species. Kapitonov, 1966, Trud. Inst. Zool. Kazakh. Akad. Nauk, 26:94- 134, indicated that the population called aphanasievi is included in this species; but also see Corbet, 1978:81. Includes lewisi, a nomen oblitum; see Hoffmann, 1977, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 90:291- 301. See Bobrinskii et al., 1965, [Key to the mammals of the U.S. S.R.], “Proveshchenie,” Moscow, p. 259, and Ognev, 1947, [Mamm. U.S. S.R., Adjac. Count.], Acad. Sci., Moscow, p. 292, for discussion of alternative type localities.