Dryomys nitedula (Pallas, 1778)

Mary Ellen Holden, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Myoxidae, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 763-770 : 766

Dryomys nitedula (Pallas, 1778) . Nova Spec. Quad. Glir. Ord., p. 88.

TYPE LOCALITY: Russia, lower Volga River .

DISTRIBUTION: SE Germany, Switzerland, Austria ( Niethammer, 1960; Spitzenberger, 1983), Czechoslovakia ( Andera, 1987; Kratochvil, 1967), Poland ( Daoud, 1989); Ukraine ( Bezrodny, 1991) and Byelorussia north to Lithuania and (in Russia) Vyshni-Volochek east to Moscow, S Gorkiy, and upper Volga R. to Kazan, south to lower Dnepr R., mouth of Volga R., and Caucasus Mtns ( Ognev, 1947; Vereshchagin, 1959; also Kuznetsov, 1965; Pavlinov and Rossolimo, 1987), Italy (Filippucci, 1986; Paolucci et al., 1987), Hungary, Yugoslavia ( Gazaryan, 1985; Krystufek, 1985a), Romania, Bulgaria, Greece ( Ondrias, 1966), Turkey, Arabia ( Harrison and Bates, 1991), E Syria (von Lehmann, 1965), N Israel ( Atallah, 1978; Nevo and Amir, 1961, 1964), N Iraq ( Jawdat, 1977), Iran ( Lay, 1967), Afghanistan ( Hassinger, 1973), N Pakistan ( Roberts, 1977); Tadzhikistan (Allobergenov, 1986; Davydov, 1984), Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kirghizia, and C Kazakhstan north to the S Altai Gobi (again see Kuznetsov, 1965; Ognev, 1947; Pavlinov and Rossolimo, 1987), the Tarbagaty Mtns east to the eastern limit of the Tien Shan Mtns, China ( Ma et al., 1981, 1987; Wang and Yang, 1983); perhaps Lebanon ( Lewis et al., 1967). In Europe see also Storch (1978).

SYNONYMS: angelus , aspromontis, bilkjewiczi, carpathicus, caucasicus, daghestanicus, diamesus, dryas , intermedius , kurdistanicus, milleri , obolenskii, ognevi, pallidus , phrygius, pictus , ravijojla, robustus , saxatilis, tanaiticus, tichomirowi, wingei (see Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951; Corbet, 1978c).

COMMENTS: There has been no critical revision of this species throughout its range, and D. nitedula may contain two or more species. Taxonomy of subspecies occuring in the independant republics of the former USSR studied by Rossolimo (1971). Taxonomic study and key to subspecies in Europe provided by Roesler and Witte (1969), in Yugoslavia by Krystufek (1985a), in Greece and SE Europe by Ondrias (1966), and in the independant republics of the former USSR by Ognev (1947). Chromosomal data provided by Filippucci et al. (1985), Zima (1987), and Zima and Kral (1984a). Phallic structure studied by Hrabe (1969). Illustrations and taxonomic implications of the os and glans penis, and stomach anatomy provided by Kratochvil (1973).