Alticola (Alticola) stoliczkanus (Blanford 1875)

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 : 961

Alticola (Alticola) stoliczkanus (Blanford 1875)

[Alticola (Alticola)] stoliczkanus (Blanford 1875) , J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 44: 107.

Type Locality: NW India, Ladakh (Kashmir), Kuenlun Mtns, Nubra Valley (as restricted by neotype designated by Rossolimo and Pavlinov, 1992:172).

Vernacular Names: Stoliczka's Mountain Vole.

Synonyms: Alticola (Alticola) acrophilus (Miller 1899) ; Alticola (Alticola) bhatnagari Biswas and Khajuria 1955 ; Alticola (Alticola) kaznakovi (Satunin 1903) ; Alticola (Alticola) nanschanicus (Satunin 1903) ; Alticola (Alticola) stracheyi (Thomas 1880) .

Distribution: N India (Jammu, Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh; Agrawal, 2000), Nepal and N Sikkim, northward through Xizang (Tibet) to Kunlun Shan in S Xinjiang and Qinghai, N China ( Zhang et al., 1997); probably does not extend farther north than the Nan Shan and Qilian Shan (Rossilimo and Pavlinov, 1992; Rossilimo et al., 1994).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc) as A. stoliczkanus and A. stracheyi .

Discussion: Subgenus Alticola . The taxon stracheyi was conventionally included in A. stoliczkanus ( Schwarz, 1939; Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951; Gromov and Polyakov, 1977; Corbet, 1978 c; Rossolimo and Pavlinov, 1992) until reinstated as a species by Feng et al. (1986), as earlier arranged by Hinton (1926 a) and Ellerman (1941). Rossolimo and Pavlinov (1992) tentatively recognized three geographic clusters: one centered in Kashmir (typical stoliczkanus ), another along S Himalayan slopes from Nepal to Sikkim ( bhatnagari ), and the last ranging over Tibet and Kuen Lun Shan (lama). We follow their synonymy but emphasize that inquiries into the taxonomic significance of this geographic variation are warranted.