Mustela sibirica Pallas, 1773 . Reise Prov. Russ. Reichs., 2:701.

TYPE LOCALITY: "Sibiriae montanis, sylvis densissimis", restricted by Pocock (1941a) to "Vorposten Tigerazkoi, near Usstkomengorsk, W. Altai," based on Pallas (1773:570). Listed in Honaki et al. (1982) as " U.S. S. R., E. Kazakhstan, vic. of Ust-Kamenogorsk, Tigeretskoie."

DISTRIBUTION: Russia (Tataria, Dalnevostochny Rayon), Ural Mtns, Siberia; Pakistan east to N Burma; N Thailand; Taiwan; China; Korea; Japan; introduced to Sakhalin, Russia.

STATUS: CITES - Appendix III (India).

SYNONYMS: asaii Kuroda, 1943; australis Satunin, 1911; canigula Hodgson, 1842; charbinensis Lowkashkin, 1934; coreanus Domaniewski, 1926; davidianus Milne-Edwards, 1872; fontainierii Milne-Edwards, 1871; hamptoni Thomas, 1921; hodgsoni Gray, 1843; horsfieldii Blyth, 1843; humeralis Blyth, 1842; itatsi Temminck, 1844; katsurai Kishida, 1931; major Hilzheimer, 1910; manchurica Brass, 1911; melli Matschie, 1922; miles Barrett-Hamilton, 1904; moupinensis Milne-Edwards, 1868; natsi Temminck, 1844; noctis Barrett-Hamilton, 1904; peninsulae Kishida, 1931; quelpartis Thomas, 1908; sho Kuroda, 1924; sibirica Pallas, 1773; stegmanni Matschie, 1907; subhemachalanus Hodgson, 1837; tafeli Hilzheimer, 1910; taivana Thomas, 1913 .

COMMENTS: Youngman (1982) placed sibirica in the subgenus Lutreola . Ognev (1935) considered altaica and sibirica closely related. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1966) implied, and Novikov (1956) and Corbet (1978c) believed lutreolina and sibirica conspecific; however this has not been supported by primary studies (Van Bree and Boeadi, 1978).