Hemiechinus auritus (Gmelin, 1770) . Nova Comm. Acad. Sci. Petropoli, 14:519.

TYPE LOCALITY: S Russia, "in regione Astrachanensi", (= Astrakhan, 46°21'N, 48°03'E) .

DISTRIBUTION: Steppe zone from E Ukraine to Mongolia in the north and from Libya to W Pakistan in the south.

SYNONYMS: albulus, aegyptius, alaschanicus, brachyotis, calligoni, caspicus, chorassanicus, dorotheae, frontalis Dobson, 1882, holdereri, homalacanthus, insularis, libycus, major, megalotis, metwallyi, microtus, minor, persicus, platyotis, russowi, syriacus, turanicus, turfanicus, turkestanicus (see Corbet, 1988; Frost et al., 1991).

COMMENTS: Subgenus Hemiechinus . Corbet (1988: 159) accepted albulus, auritus, and megalotis as valid subspecies; megalotis was formerly regarded as a distinct species but intergrades with auritus in Afghanistan; see Niethammer (1973). Osborn and Helmy (1980:57-64) recognized two subspecies within Egypt, aegyptius and libycus. The form of Cyprus (dorotheae) may be also distinct, according to Boye (1991: 115).