Meriones (Pallasiomys) meridianus (Pallas 1773)

[Mus] meridianus Pallas 1773, Reise Prov. Russ. Reichs: 702.

Type Locality: Se Russia, Astrakhanskaya Oblast, Dosang (as restricted by Heptner, in Vinogradov et al., 1936, not Chaworth-Musters and Ellerman, 1947; see Pavlinov and Rossolimo, 1987) .

Vernacular Names: Midday Jird.

Synonyms: Meriones (Pallasiomys) auceps Thomas 1908; Meriones (Pallasiomys) brevicaudatus (Milne-Edwards 1867); Meriones (Pallasiomys) buechneri Thomas 1909; Meriones (Pallasiomys) cryptorhinus (Blanford 1875); Meriones (Pallasiomys) fulvus Eversmann 1848; Meriones (Pallasiomys) heptneri (Kuznetzov 1944); Meriones (Pallasiomys) jei Wang 1964; Meriones (Pallasiomys) karelini (Kolossow 1935); Meriones (Pallasiomys) lepturus (Büchner 1889); Meriones (Pallasiomys) littoralis (Heptner 1927); Meriones (Pallasiomys) massagetes (Heptner 1933); Meriones (Pallasiomys) muleiensis Wang 1981; Meriones (Pallasiomys) nogaiorum (Heptner 1927); Meriones (Pallasiomys) penicilliger (Heptner 1933); Meriones (Pallasiomys) psammophilus (Milne-Edwards 1871); Meriones (Pallasiomys) roborowskii (Büchner 1889); Meriones (Pallasiomys) shitkovi (Heptner 1933); Meriones (Pallasiomys) tropini Kartavtseva and Korobitsyna 1986; Meriones (Pallasiomys) urianchaicus (Vinogradov 1927); Meriones (Pallasiomys) uschtaganicus (Rall 1940); Meriones (Pallasiomys) zhitkovi (Heptner 1936) .

Distribution: From Lower Don River and north of the Caucasus to Mongolia and N China (provinces of Nei Mongol, Hebei, Henen, Shanxi, N Shaanxi, Xinjiang, Gansu, NE Qinghai, and Ningxia; see Ma et al. [1987], Wang [2003], and Zhang et al. [1997]), south to E Turkey, E Iran and N Afghanistan. The isolated segment in Armenia mentioned by Corbet (1978 c) refers to M. dahli (see that account).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Pallasiomys . Intraspecific chromosomal variation among Russian samples reported by Korobitsyna and Kartavtseva (1988). Utilizing several sets of data, including results from hybridization studies, Dyatlov and Avanyan (1987) tested conspecificity of the subspecies meridianus, nogaiorum, and dahli, and concluded that nogaiorum should be considered a semispecies and dahli a species (see that account). We retain nogaiorum in M. meridianus pending unequivocal results demonstrating its evolutionary status. Phallic morphology described by Yang et al. (1992) and contrasted with M. unguiculatus . Yi it et al. (1998 b) contrasted geographic range, morphology and karyotypes between samples of M. meridianus and M. crassus in E Turkey. Reviewed by Pavlinov et al. (1990). The segment in E Anatolia (Turkey) was reviewed by Yi it et al. (1997 b, 1998 b). Range in Russia, taxonomy, and other characteristics reviewed by Gromov and Erbajeva (1995), who listed both nogaiorum and dahli in the synonymy of M. meridianus .