Spermophilus erythrogenys Brandt, 1841 . Bull. Acad. Sei. St. Petersbourg, p. 43.

TYPE LOCALITY: "...vicinity of Barnaul" [Altaisk Krai, Russia] (Ognev, 1963a:60) .

DISTRIBUTION: E Kazakhstan, SW Siberia (Russia), Xinjiang (China). Isolated population (pallidicaudus) in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia (China).

SYNONYMS: brevicauda Brandt, 1843; brunnescens (Beljaev, 1943); carruthersi (Thomas, 1912); iliensis (Beljaev, 1943); intermedius Brandt, 1843; pallidicauda (Satunin, 1903); saryarka Selevin, 1937; selevini (Vinogradov and Argyropulo, 1941).

COMMENTS: Subgenus Colobotis according to Gromov et al. (1965:315), but see Hall (1981:381) who included Colobotis in subgenus Spermophilus . Includes brevicauda (= intermedius), carruthersi, and pallidicauda; Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1951:508, 511) regarded brevicauda, intermedius and carruthersi as synonyms of pygmaeus, and pallidicauda as a full species. Sludskii et al. (1969) considered intermedius (= brevicauda) a full species. Provisionally included in major by Corbet (1978c:84); but see Gromov et al. (1965:315), Vorontsov and Lyapunova (1970), and Nikol'skii (1984) for evidence of specific distinctness. See also major .