Cansumys canus G. M. Allen 1928

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 : 1041

Cansumys canus G. M. Allen 1928

Cansumys canus G. M. Allen 1928 , J. Mammal., 9: 245.

Type Locality: China, S Gansu Prov., Jonê (=Choni or Cho-Ni), "around 2500 m " ( Corbet and Hill, 1992:393).

Vernacular Names: Gansu Hamster.

Distribution: Known only from the type locality and possibly Henan Prov., NC and EC China; limits unresolved.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Viewed either as a form of Cricetulus triton ( Corbet, 1978 c; Ellerman, 1941; Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951) or as a valid species of Cansumys ( Corbet and Hill, 1991, 1992; Musser and Carleton, 1993; Pavlinov et al., 1995 a). Zhang et al. (1997) and Wang (2003) included Shaanxi Prov. within the distribution of canus (as a species of Cricetulus or Cansumys , respectively) because they regarded ningshaanensis as its subspecies; in fact, Song (1985) had described ningshaanensis from Shaanxi as a subspecies of Tscherskia triton . The tail in ningshaanensis has a longer white segment and is longer relative to head and body as compared with triton , but no other features in the original description implicate ningshaanensis as a form of canus . Cansumys canus possesses long semi-hypsodont molar rows (6.4-6.6 mm; based on the holotype and two topotypes in AMNH and FMNH), but ningshaanensis has shorter toothrows (4.7-5.7 mm), well within the range characteristic of T. triton . The occurrence of C. canus in Henan Prov., as reported by Lu and Wang (1996), also requires reverification.