Spermophilus major (Pallas, 1778) . Nova Spec. Quad. Glir. Ord., p. 125.

TYPE LOCALITY: "Steppe near Samara," [Kuibyshev, Kuibyshevsk. Obi., Russia] (Ognev, 1963a:34) .

DISTRIBUTION: Steppe between Volga and Irtysh rivers (Russia; N Kazakhstan). Formerly, steppe between Don and Volga rivers (Russia; Gromov et al., 1965:291).

SYNONYMS: argyropuloi (Bazhanov, 1947); heptneri (Vasil'eva, 1964); rufescens (Keyserling and Blasius, 1840); ungae (Martino, 1923).

COMMENTS: Subgenus Colobotis according to Gromov et al. (1965:290), but see Hall (1981:381) who included Colobotis in subgenus Spermophilus . Occasionally hybridizes with erythrogenys and fulvus (Denisov, 1963; Ognev, 1947). Corbet (1978c:84) provisionally included erythrogenys and brevicauda in this species, but Gromov et al. (1965:290) and Vorontsov and Lyapunova (1970) considered erythrogenys a distinct species, and Gromov et al. (1965:315) included brevicauda in erythrogenys; see comment under erythrogenys .