Subfamily Sicistinae Allen, 1901 . Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 14:185.

SYNONYMS: Sminthi, Sminthinae.

COMMENTS: Pavlinov and Rossolimo (1987), Shenbrot (1992), and others use the family name Sminthidae for this group, because Brandt's (1855) supergeneric taxon Sminthi predates Sicistinae Allen, 1901 «. However, article 66 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1985:125-127) states that when two genera are united their respective type species remain the same, and the valid name of the newly formed taxon is that of the component taxon with the oldest valid name. Sicista Gray, 1827 predates Sminthus Nordmann, 1840, and thus the correct genus name is Sicista . Sicistinae is the valid subfamily (or family) name according to article 23 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1985:47). The separation of Sicistinae from Zapodinae, suggested by Ellerman (1940), is supported by the results of Shenbrot (1986, 1992), Sokolov et al. (1987b), Stein (1990), and Vorontsov (1969). Though the modern distribution of Sicista is Palaearctic, Sicistinae has been recorded from Pleistocene deposits in North America (Martin, 1989a).