Ellobius (Ellobius) talpinus (Pallas 1770)

[Mus] talpinus Pallas 1770, Nova Comm. Acad. Sci. Petropoli, 14 (I): 568.

Type Locality: Russia, W Bank of Volga River, between Kuibyshev (= Samara) and Kostychi.

Vernacular Names: Northern Mole Vole.

Synonyms: Ellobius (Ellobius) ciscaucasicus Sviridenko 1936; Ellobius (Ellobius) murinus (Pallas 1770); Ellobius (Ellobius) rufescens (Eversmann 1850); Ellobius (Ellobius) tanaiticus Zubko 1940; Ellobius (Ellobius) transcaspiae Thomas 1912 .

Distribution: Steppes of S Ukraine and Crimea, east through Kazakhstan to N of Balkhash Lake, and in Turkmenistan.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Ellobius . Chromosomal polymorphism among samples from the Pamir-Alai Mtns analyzed by Lyapunova et al. (1980); other chromosomal data summarized by Zima and Kral (1984 a). Cytological determination of Turkmenian populations as E. talpinus and comparisons with E. tancrei provided by Yakimenko and Lyapunova (1986); distribution and habitat preference in the Crimea detailed by Tovpinets (1993); in E Turkmenistan, E. talpinus and E. tancrei are separated by the Amudarya River (Marochkina, 1996).