Mesocricetus raddei (Nehring, 1894) . Zool. Anz., 18:148.

TYPE LOCALITY: Russia, N Caucasus, Daghestan, Samur River .

DISTRIBUTION: Russia, steppes along N slopes of Caucasus to Don River and Sea of Azov (Corbet, 1978c).

SYNONYMS: avaricus, nigricans (Brandt, 1832, not Lacépède, 1799), nigriculus .

COMMENTS: Recognized as a species by Pavlinov and Rossolimo (1987).