Phodopus roborovskii (Satunin 1903)

[Phodopus] roborovskii (Satunin 1903), Ann. Zool. Mus . St. Petersbourg, 7: 571.

Type Locality: China, Nan Shan Mtns, upper part of Shargol Dzhin River.

Vernacular Names: Roborovski's Desert Hamster.

Synonyms: Phodopus bedfordiae (Thomas 1908); Phodopus praedilectus Mori 1930; Phodopus przewalskii Vorontsov and Kriukova 1969 .

Distribution: Tuva (Russia) and E Kazakhstan; W and S Mongolia; adjacent regions of China from NW Xinjiang east through N Gansu, N Qinghai, Ningxia, N Shaanxi, N Shanxi, and Nei Mongolia to Liaoning and Jilin (Ma et al., 1987; Qin, 1991; Wang, 2003; Zhang et al., 1997).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: The status of przewalskii is discussed by Corbet (1978 c) and Pavlinov and Rossolimo (1987). G. M. Allen (1940) treated bedfordiae as a separate species, but most have included it in P. roborovskii (Corbet, 1978 c; Ellerman, 1941; Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951; Musser and Carleton, 1993; Pavlinov and Rossolimo, 1987; Pavlinov et al., 1995 a).