Microtus irani Thomas, 1921

Eskandarzadeh, Naeimeh, Rastegar-Pouyani, Nasrullah, Rastegar-Pouyani, Eskandar, Fathinia, Behzad, Bahmani, Zahed, Hamidi, Kordiyeh & Gholamifard, Ali, 2018, Annotated checklist of the endemic Tetrapoda species of Iran, Zoosystema 40 (24), pp. 507-537 : 528-529

Microtus irani Thomas, 1921

Microtus irani Thomas, 1921: 580 .

COMMON NAME. — Iranian Vole.

HOLOTYPE. — Not traced.

TYPE LOCALITY. — Bagh-i-Rezi, Shiraz , Fars Province, 5200 ft.

DISTRIBUTION. — As currently recognized, this taxon is not endemic to Iran, however it probably should be retained due to the uncertainy of its distribution ( Kryštufek 2017a, b) (C. William Kilpatrick comm. pers.). Kock et al. (1972) and Kock & Nadler (1983) expanded the range of this species to extend from Western Iran to Israel, a distribution perpetuated by others including Musser & Carleton (1993). Kryštufek & Kefelioğlu (2001) redescribed M. irani based on the holotype and three topotypes and restricted its known distribution back to the type locality. However, analysis of cytochrome b (Cytb) sequences (Kryštufek et al. 2009) suggested that M. irani also occurred in Balkusan, Turkey; and Kryštufek et al. (2010) recognized this taxon as a new subspecies (M. i. karamani). The range of M. i. karamani has been expanded to include Lebanon ( Kryštufek et al. 2013) and western Iran ( Mahmoudi et al. 2014).

HABITAT. — Steppe in mountains, grasslands with clumps of bushes, cultivated fields, and orchards at elevations of 1000-2100 m ( Kryštufek & Kefelioğlu 2001; Kryštufek 2017a).

IUCN. — Data deficient.

REFERENCES. — Thomas (1921); Ellerman (1948); Kock et al. (1972); Kock & Nadler (1983); Musser & Carleton (1993); Kryštufek & Kefelioğlu (2001); Kryštufek et al. (2009, 2010, 2013); Mahmoudi et al. (2014); Kryštufek (2017a).

REMARK

Included in M. sociialis (Pallas, 1773) by Lay (1967) following Ellerman (1948). Currently this taxon is proposed to contain three subspecies ( irani Thomas, 1921 , karamani Kryštufek, Vohralík, Zima, Koubinová & Bužan, 2010, and schidlovskii Argyropulo, 1933) with a distribution including areas of Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Georgia, and Armenia. However, the taxonomic scope and the distributions of these taxa are still poorly understood ( Kryštufek 2017a).

Microtus qazvinensis Golenishchev, Malikov, Nazari,