Alticola Blanford 1881

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 : 958

Alticola Blanford 1881

Alticola Blanford 1881 , J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 50: 96.

Type Species: Arvicola stoliczkanus Blanford 1875

Species and subspecies: 12 species in 3 subgenera:

Subgenus Alticola (Alticola) Blanford 1881

Subgenus Alticola (Aschizomys) Miller 1899

Subgenus Alticola (Platycranius) Kastschenko 1901

Species Alticola (Alticola) albicaudus True 1894

Species Alticola (Alticola) argentatus (Severtzov 1879)

Species Alticola (Alticola) barakshin Bannikov 1947

Species Alticola (Aschizomys) lemminus Miller 1898

Species Alticola (Aschizomys) macrotis (Radde 1862)

Species Alticola (Alticola) montosa True 1894

Species Alticola (Aschizomys) olchonensis Litvinov 1960

Species Alticola (Alticola) roylei ( Gray 1842)

Species Alticola (Alticola) semicanus G. M. Allen 1924

Species Alticola (Alticola) stoliczkanus (Blanford 1875)

Species Alticola (Platycranius) strelzowi Kastchenko 1899

Species Alticola (Alticola) tuvinicus Ognev 1950

Discussion: Myodini. Or placed in subtribe Myodina, Prometheomyini ( Pavlinov and Rossolimo, 1998; Pavlinov et al., 1995 a). Alticola is broadly related to Myodes , an affinity early acknowledged by Hooper and Hart (1962), who associated Alticola with Clethrionomys (= Myodes ), Eothenomys , Hyperacrius , Dinaromys , and Phenacomys in Clethrionomyini, a grouping later supported by Gromov and Polyakov (1977) and Mezhzherin et al. (1995). Appendicular myological and osteological traits reinforce the monophyly of Alticola and its close association with Myodes and Eothenomys ( Stein, 1987) . We follow Gromov and Polyakov (1977) and others ( Hille and Stubbe, 1996; Pavlinov and Rossolimo, 1987; Pavlinov et al., 1995 a) who recognize the subgenera Alticola , Aschizomys , and Platycranius .

Alticola is implicated as polyphyletic in DNA-DNA hybridization studies that disclose Alticola macrotis as sister species to Myodes rufocanus and A. argentatus as sister species to M. rutilus and M. glareolus ( Gileva et al., 1989) . Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial genes also support closer relationship of A. macrotis to species of Myodes ( Conroy and Cook, 1999) . Since only two of the 11 species of Alticola have been thus far surveyed in molecular studies, its paraphyly relative to Myodes will require broader taxonomic sampling. Schwarz (1939) reviewed the Himalayan species, and cytogenetic results are documented by Hielscher et al. (1992). Phylogenetic analysis of electrophoretic data by Hille and Stubbe (1996) supported relationships among A. argentatus , A. barakshin , and A. semicanus , as proposed by Rossolimo and Pavlinov (1992).