Mesocricetus Nehring 1898

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

Type Species: Cricetus nigricans Brandt 1832

Synonyms: Mediocricetus Nehring 1898; Semicricetus Nehring 1898 .

Species and subspecies: 4 species:

Species Mesocricetus auratus (Waterhouse 1839)

Species Mesocricetus brandti Nehring 1898

Species Mesocricetus newtoni Nehring 1898

Species Mesocricetus raddei (Nehring 1894)

Discussion: Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1951) recognized one extant species with six subspecies. Morphological and karyological differences, however, led Hamer and Schutowa (1965) to recognize four genetically isolated species ( auratus, brandti, newtoni, and raddei). Popular checklists have recognized either three living species (Corbet, 1978 c; Corbet and Hill, 1991) or four living and one recently extinct (Musser and Carleton, 1993; Pavlinov et al., 1995 a). Pieper (1984) described M. rathgeberi based on Holocene fossils from the Greek island of Armathia (off coast of Kasos Isl between Kriti and Rodhos). Known from the late Pliocene of Asia and late Pleistocene of Europe (Kowalski, 2001; McKenna and Bell, 1997).