Mesocricetus Nehring, 1898 . Zool. Anz., 21:49.

TYPE SPECIES: Cricetus nigricans Brandt, 1832 (= Cricetus raddei Nehring, 1894).

SYNONYMS: Mediocricetus, Semicricetus .

COMMENTS: Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1951) recognized only one extant species in the genus, but current checklists recognize at least three (Corbet, 1978c; Corbet and Hill, 1991). Pieper (1984) described M. rathgeberi based on Holocene fossils from the Greek island of Armathia (off coast of Kasos Isl between Kriti and Rodhos).