Nannospalax leucodon Nordmann, 1840

Guy G. Musser & Michael D. Carleton, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 501-755 : 753-754

Nannospalax leucodon Nordmann, 1840 . Demidoff Voy., 3:34.

TYPE LOCALITY: Ukraine, near Odessa .

DISTRIBUTION: From Yugoslavia through Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Greece, and extreme NW Turkey, to SW Ukraine just east of Dnestr River in Odessa region (see Vorontsov, 1977b; Savie, 1982b).

SYNONYMS: ceylanus, epiroticus, hellenicus, hercegovinensis, hungaricus, insularis , makedonicus, martinoi, montanoserbicus, montanosyrmiensis, monticola , ovchepolensis, peloponnesiacus, serbicus, strumiciensis, syrmiensis, thermaicus, thessalicus, thracius, transsylvanicus , turcicus, vasvdrii.

COMMENTS: This species was morphologically characterized by Topachevskii (1969) and is now viewed as a superspecies based on chromosomal studies ( Giagia et al., 1982; Peshev, 1983; Savie, 1982b; Savie and Nevo, 1990; Savie and Soldatovic, 1977, 1979). Savie (1982b) delineated six clusters that he interpreted as chromosomal species: leucodon group (with hungaricus, montanosyrmiensis, monticola , and transsylvanicus ), makedonicus group, strumiciensis group (with ovchepolensis and serbicus), epiroticus (with hellenicus), turcicus group (with thracius), and montanoserbicus group (with hercegovinensis and syrmiensis). Mikes et al. (1982) analysed the pelvis of N. leucodon in the context of assessing sexual dimorphism and taxonomic differences. Morphological and biometric analyses by Kivanc (1988) indicated that N. leucodon occurs in most of Turkey (subspecies anatolicus , armeniacus, cilicicus , nehringi , and turcicus) and that N. ehrenbergi extends up into SW Turkey (subspecies intermedius and kirgisorum ). However, Savie and Nevo (1990) viewed these results skeptically and urged elucidation by chromosomal evidence. Available biochemical and chromosomal data clearly do not support the conspecificity of leucodon and nehringi ( Vorontsov et al., 1977b, and references therein).