Hemiechinus Fitzinger 1866

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Erinaceomorpha, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 212-219 : 215

Hemiechinus Fitzinger 1866

Hemiechinus Fitzinger 1866 , Sitzb. Akad. Wiss. Wien, 54 (1): 565.

Type Species: Erinaceus platyotis Sundevall 1842

Synonyms: Ericius Sundevall 1842 ; Erinaceolus Ognev 1928 ; Macroechinus Satunin 1907 .

Species and subspecies: 2 species with 5 subspecies:

Species Hemiechinus auritus (Gmelin 1770)

Subspecies Hemiechinus auritus subsp. auritus Gmelin 1770

Subspecies Hemiechinus auritus subsp. albulus Stoliczka 1872

Subspecies Hemiechinus auritus subsp. aegyptius E. Geoffroy 1803

Subspecies Hemiechinus auritus subsp. libycus Ehrenberg 1833

Subspecies Hemiechinus auritus subsp. megalotis Blyth 1845

Species Hemiechinus collaris ( Gray 1830)

Discussion: Regarded as a subgenus of Erinaceus by Gureev (1979:168) and Gromov and Baranova (1981:9). Corbet (1978 c:15) considered Hemiechinus a distinct genus, later reviewed by Corbet (1988), who included Mesechinus , see comments therein. Pavlinov and Rossolimo (1987:12-13) included Paraechinus in Hemiechinus as a valid subgenus, as did Frost et al. (1991:27), while Corbet (1988) argued for a generic separation of Paraechinus . Morshed and Patton (2002) analyzed a part of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of Hemiechinus auritus , Paraechinus aethiopicus and P. hypomelas and found that Hemiechinus is paraphyletic with respect to Paraechinus . Bannikova et al. (2002) used the fingerprinting method to analyze the relationships between Erinaceus , Hemiechinus , Paraechinus , Atelerix and Neotetracus . They also found that Hemiechinus and Paraechinus do not form a monophyletic group. The present list therefore returns to the former practice of keeping Hemiechinus and Paraechinus as distinct genera, contra Frost et al. (1991).