Alexandromys kharanurensis

Lissovsky, Andrey A., Petrova, Tatyana V., Yatsentyuk, Svetlana P., Golenishchev, Fedor N., Putincev, Nikolay I., Kartavtseva, Irina V., Sheremetyeva, Irina N. & Abramson, Natalia I., 2017, Multilocus phylogeny and taxonomy of East Asian voles Alexandromys (Rodentia, Arvicolinae), Zoologica Scripta 47 (1), pp. 1-12 : 10

4.8 | Taxonomic status of A. o. kharanurensis

Our trees constructed on the basis of mtDNA confirm previous studies (Brunhoff, Galbreath, Fedorov, Cook, & Jaarola, 2003) in the existence of three clades within A. oeconomus : roughly European, Siberian and Beringian. Nuclear genes display a more homogenous cluster for the root vole as a whole. Thus, from a phylogenetic point of view, the root vole represents a compact clade.

Our previous morphological study ( Lissovsky & Obolenskaya, 2011) suggested that A. o. kharanurensis forms a distinct group within Alexandromys voles. None of the genes used in the present study supported distinct position of A. o. kharanurensis . The phenomenon of morphological separation of A. o. kharanurensis could be explained by additional information obtained from the collector of the specimens studied. All specimens of A. o. kharanurensis in the collection of Zoological Museum of Moscow University originated from animals kept in captivity (V. Malygin, personal communication). This information was not indicated in the museum documentation. Captive mammals often have somewhat disproportional skulls, so this could be the reason for the separate position of A. o. kharanurensis in the morphological study.