Sorex (Sorex) volnuchini Ognev 1922

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Soricomorpha, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 220-311 : 300

Sorex (Sorex) volnuchini Ognev 1922

Sorex (Sorex) volnuchini Ognev 1922 , Ann. Mus. Zool. Acad. St. Petersbourg, 22: 322.

Type Locality: Russia, Krasnodarskii kr., Adygeiskaya A.O. [middle course], r. Kisha (see Pavlinov and Rossolimo, 1987).

Vernacular Names: Caucasian Pygmy Shrew.

Subspecies: :

Subspecies Sorex (Sorex) volnuchini subsp. volnuchini Ognev 1922

Subspecies Sorex (Sorex) volnuchini subsp. dahli Zagorodnyuk 1996

Distribution: S Russia and Caucasus States; Turkey and N Iran. Perhaps also Crimea, Ukraine.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Sorex , S. minutus group. Formerly included in minutus but specimens from Caucasus have a slighly different karyotype (2n = 40, FN = 60) which led Kozlovsky (1973) and Sokolov and Tembotov (1989) to regard volnuchini as a full species. The karyotype of S. buchariensis is very similar ( Ivanitskaya et al., 1977). Zaitsev and Osipova (2003) were able to distinguish volnuchini morphologically from minutus ; they also documented Pleistocene records for volnuchini . Zagorodnyuk (1996 c) described the population of Crimea as subspecies dahli, in contrast to the smaller minutus inhabiting mainland Ukraine. Kryštufek and Vohralík (2001) demonstrated that Turkish populations (except those from Thrace) represent S. volnuchini .