Spermophilus erythrogenys Brandt 1841

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Sciuridae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 754-818 : 806

Spermophilus erythrogenys Brandt 1841

Spermophilus erythrogenys Brandt 1841 , Bull. Acad. Sci. St. Petersbourg: 43.

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

Vernacular Names: Red-cheeked Ground Squirrel.

Synonyms: Spermophilus brunnescens (Belyaev 1943) ; Spermophilus heptneri (Vasil’eva 1964) ; Spermophilus ungae (Martino 1923) .

Distribution: E Kazakhstan, SW Siberia ( Russia). Formerly included an isolated population ( pallidicauda ) in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia ( China), which is here given full species status along with brevicauda .

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Colobotis according to Gromov et al. (1965:315), but see Hall (1981:381) who included Colobotis in subgenus Spermophilus . 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; while Corbet (1978 c:84) provisionally included these taxa in major ; but see Gromov et al. (1965:315), Vorontsov and Lyapunova (1970), and Nikol'skii (1984) for evidence of specific distinctness from major . The names ungae (Martino, 1923) , ilensis (Belyaev, 1945) , and heptneri (Vasil’eva, 1964) are particularly unstable. Ognev (1947) placed ungae in erythrogenys , and omitted ilensis , as did Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1955). Gromov et al. (1965) placed ungae , and the newly described heptneri , in major , but heptneri was considered a junior synonym of ungae ; ilensis was placed in brevicauda , but considered invalid because it is infrasubspecific. Pavlinov and Rossolimo (1987) placed all three, as well as brevicauda , in erythrogenys , without comment. Finally, Hoffmann et al. (1993) placed ilensis in erythrogenys , and ungae plus heptneri in major . The present treatment was reached after plotting the type localities of all taxa on distribution maps of the three species ( brevicauda , erythrogenys , and major ); ungae and heptneri fall within the range of erythrogenys , while ilensis is within brevicauda .