Apodemus ponticus Sviridenko 1936

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 1189-1531 : 1272

Apodemus ponticus Sviridenko 1936

Apodemus ponticus Sviridenko 1936 , Abs. Works Zool. Inst. Moscow State Univ., 3: 103.

Type Locality: N Caucasus, Chernomorski Dist., (Black Sea) Olgino Village.

Vernacular Names: Caucasus Field Mouse.

Synonyms: Apodemus argyropuli Ellerman and Morrison-Scott 1951 ; Apodemus argyropuloi Heptner 1948 ; Apodemus brevicauda (Sviridenko 1936) ; Apodemus parvus Argyropulo 1941 ; Apodemus persicus Gromov 1963 ; Apodemus planicola (Sviridenko 1936) ; Apodemus samaricus (Sviridenko 1936) .

Distribution: Endemic to the Caucasus, from shore of Azov Sea through the Caucasus (S Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan); see Mezhzherin (1991, 1997 a), Orlov et al. (1996 a, b), and Vorontsov et al. (1992).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Sylvaemus group. The synonyms have been associated with A. flavicollis ( Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951; Harrison and Bates, 1991), but they represent samples of A. ponticus , which is apparently a distinct species ( Bobrinskii et al., 1944) defined by chromosomal, allozymic, molecular, and morphological traits that is closely related to A. flavicollis (Chelomina, 1998; Chelomina et al., 1998 a, b; Mezhzherin, 1991, 1997 a; Orlov et al., 1996 a, b; Reutter et al., 2003; Vereshchagin, 1967:510; Vorontsov et al., 1992; Mezhzherin’s 1991 report is the most comprehensive). Apodemus flavicollis is absent from most of the Caucasus, and has been reported only from Armenia ( Frynta et al., 2001; Macholán et al., 2001 b). The names argyropuli Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951 , and argyropuloi Heptner, 1948 (see Harrison and Bates, 1991), were proposed to replace parvus . Included in Mezhzherin’s (1997 a) revision of N Eurasian Apodemus . Contrasted with A. arianus and A. argenteus by restriction analysis of nuclear DNA ( Chelomina et al., 1995), and with A. witherbyi (as A. fulvipectus ) and A. uralensis by comparison of isozymic, chromosomal, and molecular divergence ( Chelomina et al., 1998 a), and with European and Georgian species by a combination of methodological approaches ( Hille et al., 2002). Placed in the superspecies A. flavicollis by Orlov et al. (1996 a, b). Reviewed by Gromov and Erbajeva (1995, as fulvipectus ).