Spermophilus musicus Menetries, 1832 . Cat. Raisonne Mus. Peale Phila., p. 21.

TYPE LOCALITY: U.S. S. R., Gruzinsk. S.S. R., Uchkulan ("Caucasus”) .

DISTRIBUTION: N. Caucasus Mtns. (U.S. S. R.).

COMMENT: Subgenus Spermophilus; see Gromov et al., 1965:249. Regarded by Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951:508, and Corbet, 1978:83, as a subspecies of pygmaeus . Gromov et al., 1965:249, and Vorontsov and Lyapunova, 1970, Byull. Mosk. Ova. Ispyt. Prir. Otd. Biol., 75: 122-136, and 1976, pp. 337-353, in Beringia in Cenozoic, V. Kontrimavichus, ed., Acad. Sci., Vladivostok, provided evidence of specific distinctness.