Cricetulus alticola Thomas 1917

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Cricetidae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 955-1189 : 1041

Cricetulus alticola Thomas 1917

Cricetulus alticola Thomas 1917 , Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, 19: 455.

Type Locality: India, Ladak (Kashmir), Shushul, 13,500 ft (4115 m).

Vernacular Names: Ladak Dwarf Hamster.

Distribution: NE India in Jammu and Ladak ( Agrawal, 2000), Nepal ( Lim and Ross, 1992), and western part of Tibetan Plateau (Xizang) in China ( Feng et al., 1986).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Conventionally recognized as a species ( Corbet, 1978 c; Corbet and Hill, 1991; Ellerman, 1941, 1961; Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951; Musser and Carleton, 1993; Pavlinov et al., 1995 a), but Feng et al. (1986) considered alticola to be a subspecies of C. kamensis that occurs in W Xizang Prov. (an allocation followed by Zhang et al., 1997, and Wang, 2003).