Meles meles (Linnaeus, 1758) . Syst. Nat., 10th ed., 1:48.

TYPE LOCALITY: "Europa inter rimas rupium et lapidum," restricted by Thomas (1911a) to " Upsala " [Sweden] .

DISTRIBUTION: Scandinavia to S Siberia, south to Israel; Iraq; China, Korea, and Japan; and on Ireland, Britain, Crete, and Rhodes.

SYNONYMS: aberrans Stroganov, 1962; alba Gmelin, 1788; altaicus Kastschenko, 1901; amurensis Schrenk, 1858; anakuma Temminck, 1844; arcalus Miller, 1907; arenarius Satunin, 1895; blanfordi Matschie, 1902; britannicus Satunin, 1906; canescens Blanford, 1875; caninus Billberg, 1827; caucasicus Ognev, 1926; chinensis Gray, 1868; communis Billberg, 1827; danicus Degerbol, 1933; europaeus Desmarest, 1816; hanensis Matschie, 1907; heptneri Ognev, 1931; leptorhynchus Milne-Edwards, 1867; leucurus Hodgson, 1847; maculata Gmelin, 1788; marianensis Graells, 1897; melanogenys J. A. Allen and Andrews, 1913; minor Satunin, 1905; raddei Kastschenko, 1901; rhodius Festa, 1914; schrenkii Nehring, 1891; severzovi Heptner, 1940; sibiricus Kastschenko, 1900; siningensis Matschie, 1907; talassicus Ognev, 1931; tauricus Ognev, 1926; taxus Boddaert, 1785; tianschanensis Hayninger-Huene, 1910; tsingtanensis Matschie, 1907; typicus Barrett-Hamilton, 1899; vulgaris Tiedemann, 1808 .

COMMENTS: Although Ognev (1931) considered leptorhynchus (including amurensis) a distinct species; most have considered meles and leptorhynchus conspecific (Allen, 1938; Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951; Novikov, 1956; Stroganov, 1962; Long and Killingley, 1983). Baryshnikov and Potapova (1990) suggested that M. meles and M. anakuma are not conspecific.