Ellobius (Afganomys) fuscocapillus Blyth 1843

Ellobius (Afganomys) fuscocapillus Blyth 1843, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 11: 887.

Type Locality: Pakistan, Baluchistan Region, Quetta Div., Quetta.

Vernacular Names: Southern Mole Vole.

Synonyms: Ellobius (Afganomys) farsistani Ugarov 1928; Ellobius (Afganomys) intermedius Scully 1887 .

Distribution: E Iran, Afghanistan, W Pakistan, and S Turkmenistan in the Kopet Dag Mtns; outlying population in E Turkmenistan, 500 km northeast of the central range (Marochkina, 1996).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Afganomys . Chromosomal data presented by Vorontsov et al. (1980) and Lyapunova et al. (1980); in contrast to E. lutescens and E. tancrei, E. fuscocapillus has the standard mammalian XX/XY sex chromosomes (Just et al., 1995). Ellobius fuscocapillus does not occur today in the S Levant (Israel), but fossils document its former presence during Pleistocene intervals, about 220,000-110,000 and 80,000 -60,000 years ago (see Tchernov, 1992, 1994, and references therein).