Ochotona (Pika) alpina (Pallas 1773)

[Lepus] alpinus Pallas 1773, Reise Prov. Russ. Reichs, Vol. 2: 701.

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

Vernacular Names: Alpine Pika.

Subspecies::

Subspecies Ochotona (Pika) alpina subsp. alpina Pallas 1773

Subspecies Ochotona (Pika) alpina subsp. changaica Ognev 1940

Subspecies Ochotona (Pika) alpina subsp. cinereofusca Schrenk 1858

Subspecies Ochotona (Pika) alpina subsp. sushkini Thomas 1924

Distribution: Sayan and Altai Mtns; Khangai, Kentei and associated ranges; upper Amur drainage (NW Kazakhstan, S Russia, NW Mongolia); N Xinjiang (China).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc). Isolated montane populations in Mongolia may be threatened (A. T. Smith et al., 1990).

Discussion: Subgenus Pika . 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. pallasi, is a subspecies of alpina (see A. T. Smith et al., 1990, and references therein; see Niu et al., 2001, for contrary view). Does not include collaris or princeps, see Weston (1981). Formerly included argentata, but see Erbajeva (1997), Formozov (1997), and Formozov et al. (In Press) who gave it full species status on the basis of morphology, chromosome number and acoustic behavior.