Hemiechinus auritus (Gmelin, 1770)

Rainer Hutterer, 1993, Order Insectivora, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 69-130 : 78

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).