Microtus socialis (Pallas, 1773) . Reise Prov. Russ. Reichs., 2:705.

TYPE LOCALITY: Kazakhstan, probably Gur'evsk Oblast between Volga and Ural rivers .

DISTRIBUTION: Palearctic steppe from Dneper River and Crimea east to Lake Balkhash and NW Xinjiang in China, south through E Turkey to N Syria and NE Iran.

SYNONYMS: astrachanensis, binominatus, colchicus, goriensis, gravesi, hyrcania, nikolajevi, parvus, satunini, schidlovskii, shevketi, syriacus .

COMMENTS: Subgenus Microtus, socialis species group sensu Zagorodnyuk (1990), along with M. guentheri and M. irani . Chromosomal data summarized and reviewed by Zima and Krâl (1984a). Harrison and Bates (1991) included guentheri and irani under M. socialis because they could not discriminate the three in their samples but provided no substantiating data or analyses (see accounts of guentheri and irani).