Alticola (Alticola) tuvinicus Ognev 1950

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 : 962

Alticola (Alticola) tuvinicus Ognev 1950

Alticola (Alticola) tuvinicus Ognev 1950 , Mammals of USSR and Adjacent Countries, Vol. 7: 520.

Type Locality: Russia, Tuvinskaya (Tuva), Barun-Kemtchik District, Kyzyl Mozhalyk (= Kyzyr).

Vernacular Names: Tuva Mountain Vole.

Synonyms: Alticola (Alticola) khubsugulensis Litvinov 1973 ; Alticola (Alticola) kosogol Litvinov 1973 .

Distribution: Discontinuous in the Altai of Russia and NW Mongolia, east through Tuva region and N part of Khubsugul Lake Valley, to SW shore of Lake Bailkal ( Rossolimo et al., 1988; Rossolimo and Pavlinov, 1992).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Alticola , A. roylei-A. argentatus species group ( Rossolimo and Pavlinov, 1992). Originally described as a species, as regarded by Pavlinov and Rossolimo (1987), then synonymized under the ubiquitous A. roylei ( Corbet, 1978 c) , or listed as a subspecies of A. argentatus ( Gromov and Erbajeva, 1995) . Thoroughly revised by Rossolimo et al. (1988) and Rossolimo and Pavlinov (1992), who recognized kosogol and olchonensis as subspecies (latter now a species; see account). Rossolimo and Pavlinov (1992) noted that A. tuvinicus has the northernmost distribution of any in the subgenus Alticola and overlaps the range of A. barakshin in NW Mongolia and SW Tuva; southern range is separated from A. argentatus by the broad Zayson depression between Kazakhstan and NW China. They considered A. tuvinicus to be descended from a form similar to A. argentatus , its closest relative.