Steppe Field Mouse

discussion

Remarks: In the past reported as A. sylvaticus, A. hermonensis or A. iconicus (Heptner, 1948; Filippucci et al. 1996) according to skull characters; however, the nomenclature adopted here is based on Kryštufek (2002).

Checklist of Mammals of Syria

distribution

Distribution: Uncertain status but apparently rare. Recorded from coastal region to Orontes Basin. (Fig. 39) Previous records: Slenfeh and Kastel Maaf (Lehmann 1965), Kafaria and Jisr ech-Choghur (Shehab et al. 2018).

Checklist of Mammals of Syria

conservation

Conservation: IUCN – Endangered as A. hermonensis, Lower Risk (lc) as A. fulvipectus.

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

discussion

Discussion: Sylvaemus group. The taxon witherbyi was originally described as a subspecies of Mus sylvaticus, subsequently arranged as a subspecies of A. sylvaticus (Ellerman, 1941), treated as a synonym of A. sylvaticus arianus (Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951) or A. sylvaticus (Corbet, 1978 c), and listed as a synonym of A. arianus (Musser and Carleton, 1993; Pavlinov et al., 1995 a). Zagorodnyuk (1996 a) finally identified the holotype as an example of A. uralensis. This is the species identified as A. arianus by Musser and Carleton (1993), who separated it from A. sylvaticus on the basis of its distinctive pelage and smaller body size. Recently, Zagorodnyuk (1996 a), Zagorodnyuk et al. (1997), and Mezhzherin (1997 a) elucidated the morphological and distributional boundaries of A. witherbyi (as arianus) and their definition incorporates the names and ranges of fulvipectus, falzfeini, and hermonensis, each of which has been treated as a species by various authors (Chelomina et al., 1998 a; Filippucci et al. 1989, 1996; Mezhzherin and Zagorodnyuk, 1989; Musser and Carleton, 1993). Mezhzherin and Zagorodnyuk (1989) described falzfeini as a species, which O. Rossolimo (in litt.) c

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae