Mesocricetus newtoni Nehring 1898

Mesocricetus newtoni Nehring 1898, Zool. Anz., 21: 329.

Type Locality: Bulgaria, Kolarovgrad (= Schumla or Shumen).

Vernacular Names: Romanian Hamster.

Distribution: Restricted to right side of Danube River in SE Romania and N Bulgaria.

Conservation: IUCN – Vulnerable.

Discussion: Systematic summaries and comparisons with other species are provided by Niethammer (1982 c) and Mitchell-Jones et al. (1999); 2n = 38 (Raicu and Bratosin, 1965). Hosey (1982) postulated origin of this species around 20,000 -10,000 years before present, resulting from dispersion of Near East Mesocricetus across a Bosphorus land bridge and subsequent isolation due to post-Pleistocene sea level increase.