Apodemus ponticus Sviridenko 1936

Apodemus ponticus Sviridenko 1936, Abs. Works Zool. Inst. Moscow State Univ., 3: 103.

Type Locality: N Caucasus, Chernomorski Dist., (Black Sea) Olgino Village.

Vernacular Names: Caucasus Field Mouse.

Synonyms: Apodemus argyropuli Ellerman and Morrison-Scott 1951; Apodemus argyropuloi Heptner 1948; Apodemus brevicauda (Sviridenko 1936); Apodemus parvus Argyropulo 1941; Apodemus persicus Gromov 1963; Apodemus planicola (Sviridenko 1936); Apodemus samaricus (Sviridenko 1936) .

Distribution: Endemic to the Caucasus, from shore of Azov Sea through the Caucasus (S Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan); see Mezhzherin (1991, 1997 a), Orlov et al. (1996 a, b), and Vorontsov et al. (1992).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Sylvaemus group. The synonyms have been associated with A. flavicollis (Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951; Harrison and Bates, 1991), but they represent samples of A. ponticus, which is apparently a distinct species (Bobrinskii et al., 1944) defined by chromosomal, allozymic, molecular, and morphological traits that is closely related to A. flavicollis (Chelomina, 1998; Chelomina et al., 1998 a, b; Mezhzherin, 1991, 1997 a; Orlov et al., 1996 a, b; Reutter et al., 2003; Vereshchagin, 1967:510; Vorontsov et al., 1992; Mezhzherin’s 1991 report is the most comprehensive). Apodemus flavicollis is absent from most of the Caucasus, and has been reported only from Armenia (Frynta et al., 2001; Macholán et al., 2001 b). The names argyropuli Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951, and argyropuloi Heptner, 1948 (see Harrison and Bates, 1991), were proposed to replace parvus . Included in Mezhzherin’s (1997 a) revision of N Eurasian Apodemus . Contrasted with A. arianus and A. argenteus by restriction analysis of nuclear DNA (Chelomina et al., 1995), and with A. witherbyi (as A. fulvipectus) and A. uralensis by comparison of isozymic, chromosomal, and molecular divergence (Chelomina et al., 1998 a), and with European and Georgian species by a combination of methodological approaches (Hille et al., 2002). Placed in the superspecies A. flavicollis by Orlov et al. (1996 a, b). Reviewed by Gromov and Erbajeva (1995, as fulvipectus).