Eolagurus luteus (Eversmann 1840)

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 : 976

Eolagurus luteus (Eversmann 1840)

[Georychus] luteus Eversmann 1840 , Bull. Soc. Nat. Moscow: 25.

Type Locality: Kazakhstan, NW of Aral Sea.

Vernacular Names: Yellow Steppe Lemming.

Synonyms: Eolagurus gromovi Topatchevski 1963 ; Eolagurus praeluteus Schevtschenko 1965 ; Eolagurus volgensis Alexandrova 1976 .

Distribution: Dry steppes, semideserts, and stable sand dunes in Zaysan Lake basin of E Kazakhstan, NW Xinjiang, and W Mongolia north of the Gobi Desert ( Gromov and Erbajeva, 1995; Gromov and Polyakov, 1997; Ma et al., 1987).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (cd).

Discussion: Gromov and Polyakov (1977) and Gromov and Erbajeva (1995) excellently covered morphology, geographic distribution, and phylogeny; cranial and dental morphology also described by Hinton (1926 a). The three synonyms were originally appied as species to samples of Eolagurus from early and middle Pleistocene sediments, but are now regarded as extinct subspecies of E. luteus ( Gromov and Polyakov, 1977) .