Dicrostonyx vinogradovi Ognev 1948

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Cricetidae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 955-1189 : 973

Dicrostonyx vinogradovi Ognev 1948

Dicrostonyx vinogradovi Ognev 1948 , Zveri S. S. S. R. i prilezhashchikh stran: Gryzuny (prodolzhenie) [Mammals of the U. S. S. R. and adjacent countries], Vol. 6: 509.

Type Locality: Russia, SE Siberia, Wrangel Isl (Os. Vrangelya), off coast of Anadyr region.

Vernacular Names: Wrangel Island Collared Lemming.

Distribution: Known only from the type locality.

Conservation: IUCN – Critically Endangered.

Discussion: Included in D. torquatus by Corbet (1978 c), but Chernyavskii and Kozlovskii (1980) interpreted chromosomal data (2n = 28), morphological traits, and infertility with Siberian populations to validate vinogradovi as a separate species. Jarrell and Fredga (1993) speculated that such hybrid depression is unlikely with Alaskan populations having similar derived karyotypes (fewest telocentric chromosomes) and so synonymized vinogradovi under D. groenlandicus sensu lato; mitochondrial DNA haplotypes also link the Wrangel Isl form with specimens (provenience and taxon not specified) from Alaska (Fedorov, 1999; Fedorov et al., 1999 a). Given the antiquity and endemism of Lemmus populations on Wrangel Isl ( L. portenkoi , see Chernyavskii et al., 1993), the island’s remoteness from the Alaskan mainland, and the complexity of Beringian landscapes, this proposed synonymy deserves confirmation with broader taxonomic sampling and other data.