Ochotona alpina (Pallas, 1773)

Robert S. Hoffmann, 1993, Order Lagomorpha, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 807-827 : 807

Ochotona alpina (Pallas, 1773) . Reise Prov. Russ. Reichs., 2:701.

TYPE LOCALITY: "in Alpinus, rupestribus Sibiriae". Restricted by Ognev (1940:23) to Kazakhstan, Altai Mtns, Vostocho-Kazakhstansk Obi., Tigiretskoe Range, vic. of Tigiretskoe [110 km NNW Ust-Kamenogorsk]. Not Tigiretskoe, ESE Minusinsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia .

DISTRIBUTION: Sayan and Altai Mtns; Khangai, Kentei and associated ranges; upper Amur drainage (NW Kazakhstan, S Russia, NW Mongolia); N Kansu-Ningsia border ( China).

STATUS: The small isolated population of O. a. argentata at the southern extreme of the species range is likely endangered, and other isolated montane populations in Mongolia may be threatened (A. T. Smith et al., 1990).

SYNONYMS: argentata Howell, 1928 ; ater Eversmann, 1842 ; changaica Ognev, 1940; cinereofusca (Schrenk, 1858); nitida Hollister, 1912; scoroduntovi Skalon, 1935; sushkini Thomas, 1924.

COMMENTS: Formerly included hyperborea ; but see Ivanitskaya (1985) and Pavlinov and Rossolimo (1987). Sokolov and Orlov (1980:79) considered hyperborea a distinct species with a distribution overlapping that of alpina in the Khangai and Kentei Mtns, Mongolia. Separate specific status was supported by differences in chromosome numbers ( Vorontsov and Ivanitskaya, 1973). The race sushkini , formerly assigned to O. pallosi , is a subspecies of alpina (see A. T. Smith et al., 1990, and references therein). Does not include collaris or princeps , see Weston (1981).