Ochotona (Pika) collaris Nelson 1893

Ochotona (Pika) collaris Nelson 1893, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 8: 117.

Type Locality: "about 200 miles [322 km] south of Fort Yukon, Alaska near the head of the Tanana River." [USA].

Vernacular Names: Collared Pika.

Distribution: WC Mackenzie, S Yukon, NW British Columbia (Canada); SE Alaska (USA).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc) (MacDonald and Jones, 1987).

Discussion: Subgenus Pika . Broadbooks (1965) and Youngman (1975) considered collaris and princeps conspecific. Corbet (1978 c), following Argyropulo (1948) and Gureev (1964), included collaris in alpina . A statistical reevaluation of craniometric data by Weston (1981) indicated that collaris, princeps and alpina are separate species; Hall (1981:286) also recognized collaris as a distinct species. O. collaris and O. princeps share similar chromosome numbers that differ sharply from those of alpina and hyperborea (Vorontsov and Ivanitskaya, 1973), but are similar to pusilla (Erbajeva, 1994) .