Alticola (Alticola) stoliczkanus (Blanford 1875)

[Alticola (Alticola)] stoliczkanus (Blanford 1875), J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 44: 107.

Type Locality: NW India, Ladakh (Kashmir), Kuenlun Mtns, Nubra Valley (as restricted by neotype designated by Rossolimo and Pavlinov, 1992:172).

Vernacular Names: Stoliczka's Mountain Vole.

Synonyms: Alticola (Alticola) acrophilus (Miller 1899); Alticola (Alticola) bhatnagari Biswas and Khajuria 1955; Alticola (Alticola) kaznakovi (Satunin 1903); Alticola (Alticola) nanschanicus (Satunin 1903); Alticola (Alticola) stracheyi (Thomas 1880) .

Distribution: N India (Jammu, Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh; Agrawal, 2000), Nepal and N Sikkim, northward through Xizang (Tibet) to Kunlun Shan in S Xinjiang and Qinghai, N China (Zhang et al., 1997); probably does not extend farther north than the Nan Shan and Qilian Shan (Rossilimo and Pavlinov, 1992; Rossilimo et al., 1994).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc) as A. stoliczkanus and A. stracheyi .

Discussion: Subgenus Alticola . The taxon stracheyi was conventionally included in A. stoliczkanus (Schwarz, 1939; Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951; Gromov and Polyakov, 1977; Corbet, 1978 c; Rossolimo and Pavlinov, 1992) until reinstated as a species by Feng et al. (1986), as earlier arranged by Hinton (1926 a) and Ellerman (1941). Rossolimo and Pavlinov (1992) tentatively recognized three geographic clusters: one centered in Kashmir (typical stoliczkanus), another along S Himalayan slopes from Nepal to Sikkim ( bhatnagari), and the last ranging over Tibet and Kuen Lun Shan (lama). We follow their synonymy but emphasize that inquiries into the taxonomic significance of this geographic variation are warranted.