Ochotona (Conothoa) muliensis Pen and Feng 1962

Ochotona (Conothoa) muliensis Pen and Feng 1962, in: Pen et al., Acta Zool. Sinica, 14 (supplement): 120.

Type Locality: "Ting-Tung-Niu-Chang, southeastern Muli (alt. 3600m) Szechuan" [Muli A.D., Xichang County, Sichuan, China].

Vernacular Names: Muli Pika.

Distribution: Known only from the vicinity of the type locality.

Conservation: IUCN – Data Deficient.

Discussion: Subgenus Conothoa; but see Niu et al. (2001), who placed it in subgenus Pika as sister to brookei in the erythrotis group. This taxon was originally described as a subspecies of O. gloveri, but is now thought to be specifically distinct (Feng and Zheng, 1985; Niu et al., 2001). It differs from gloveri in certain cranial characters, and in habitat (A. T. Smith et al., 1990), but its extreme rarity in collections makes its independent status difficult to demonstrate. Formozov (1997) claimed it to be a junior synonym of gloveri .