Ellobius (Ellobius) tancrei Blasius 1884

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 : 976

Ellobius (Ellobius) tancrei Blasius 1884

Ellobius (Ellobius) tancrei Blasius 1884 , Zool. Anz., 7: 197.

Type Locality: Kazakhstan, Zaysan Lake Valley, Kendyrlik (= Przevalskoie).

Vernacular Names: Eastern Mole Vole.

Synonyms: Ellobius (Ellobius) albicatus Thomas 1912 ; Ellobius (Ellobius) coenosus Thomas 1912 ; Ellobius (Ellobius) fusciceps Thomas 1909 ; Ellobius (Ellobius) fuscipes Vinogradov 1936 ; Ellobius (Ellobius) kastschenkoi Thomas 1912 ; Ellobius (Ellobius) larvatus G. M. Allen 1924 ; Ellobius (Ellobius) ognevi Dukelsky 1927 ; Ellobius (Ellobius) orientalis G. M. Allen 1924 ; Ellobius (Ellobius) ursulus Thomas 1912 .

Distribution: E Turkmenistan ( Yakimenko and Lyapunova, 1986; Marochkina, 1996) and Uzbekistan, east through E Kazakhstan, to Mongolia and adjacent China in NW Xinjiang, Nei Mongol, N Shaanxi, N Gansu, and Ningxia ( Zhang et al., 1997, as E. talpinus ).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Corbet (1978 c) included tancrei in E. talpinus , but the former is morphologically and chromosomally distinct and its geographic range is allopatric to that of E. talpinus (see Corbet, 1984; Pavlinov and Rossolimo, 1987; Yakimenko and Lyapunova, 1986). Chromosomal contrasts with E. talpinus reported by Yakimenko and Lyapunova (1986) and with E. alaicus by Lyapunova et al. (1990). This species has a 2n = 32-54, with an XX sex chromosome combination in both males and females, and like E. lutescens , has lost its Y chromosome ( Just et al., 1995; Vogel, 1998).