Spalax zemni Erxleben, 1777 . Syst. Regni Anim., 1:370 -371.

TYPE LOCALITY: Ukraine, Ternopolsk region (see Topachevskii, 1969) .

DISTRIBUTION: SE Poland east into Ukraine between Dnestr and Dnepr rivers and south to margin of Black Sea (see Topachevskii, 1969; Savie, 1982c; Vorontsov et al., 1977b).

SYNONYMS: podolicus, polonicus .

COMMENTS: Included in S. microphthalmus by Corbet (1978c), but monographed as a separate species (under the name polonicus) by Topachevskii (1969) and listed as such by Pavlinov and Rossolimo (1987). Reviewed (as polonicus) by Savie (1982c). Topachevskii (1969) indicated that zemni was a nomen nudum, but it is properly available (Ellerman, 1949b) and becomes the earliest name for this species (Pavlinov and Rossolimo, 1987).