Ratón balcánico

discussion

Remarks: A craniometric study by Vohralík et al. (2002) retrieved poor support for the subspecific status of A. mystacinus while a phylogeographic analysis inferred the occurrence of a single lineage in Syria, which is widespread across Anatolia, except for its southwestern parts (Michaux et al. 2005).

Checklist of Mammals of Syria

distribution

Distribution: Common and confined to the mountain foothills and wooded steppes of the coastal and southwestern regions. (Fig. 38) Previous records: Mount Hermon (Allen 1915), Kafroun and Al-Qaryatein (Aharoni 1932), Qastal Maaf and Slenfeh (Lehmann 1965), Kasab (Lewis et al. 1967), Al-Karnah and Ain Arab (Shehab et al. 1999), Kharabow (Shehab 2005), Abu Qubays and Al-Furunlok (Daoud & Khalil 2009 a, b); Ain Arab, Al-Bargasha, Serghaya, Jubata Forest (Shehab et al. 2018). Recent record: Al-Kreem (2021).

Checklist of Mammals of Syria

discussion

Discussion: Sylvaemus group. Reviewed by Storch (1977) and Niethammer (1978 a), who included krkensis as a subspecies; that form, however, is a color phase of A. sylvaticus (see that account). Usually regarded as sole member of subgenus Karstomys, but included in a Sylvaemus Group by Musser et al. (1996); placed in subgenus Karstomys of genus Sylvaemus by Mezhzherin (1997 a) and Pavlinov et al. (1995 a), but in an " Apodemus group " by Liu et al. (2004). Electrophoretic analyses of allozyme variation indicated A. mystacinus (and A. epimelas) to be a distinct species justifiably placed within subgenus Sylvaemus (Britton-Davidian et al., 1991; Filippucci, 1992; Filippucci et al., 2002; Gemmeke, 1980; Mezhzherin et al., 1992). Data from nuclear IRBP and mtDNA cytochrome b and 12 S rRNA sequences also indicated weak affinity with Sylvaemus (Michaux et al., 2002 a), as did analyses of cytochrome b haplotype divergences (Reutter et al., 2003), but not complete mtDNA cytochrome b sequences (Liu et al., 2004). Vorontsov et al. (1989) provided chromosomal data in context of defining species of Apodemus in the Caucasus. Formerly included the Balkan epimelas, which is now treated as a separat

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

distribution

Distribution: On some Aegean islands (Rhodes, Crete, Corfu, and other inshore islands; Cheylan, 1991; Özkan and Kryštufek et al., 1999; Storch, 1977); eastward through Turkey (Felten et al., 1973; Kryštufek and Vohralík, 2001; Pamukoglu and Albayrak, 1996) to S Georgia in Caucasus (Gromov and Erbajeva, 1995); south and east to N and C Israel, Lebanon, NW Jordan (Benda and Sádlová, 1999; Mendelssohn and Yom-Tov, 1999; Qumsiyeh, 1996; Tchernov, 1979, who discussed extant and Pleistocene samples), Syria (Shehab et al., 1999), and N Iraq; see non-European distribution in Corbet (1978 c), Niethammer (1978 a), Mitchell-Jones (1999), and review of distribution in the Near East by Harrison and Bates (1991).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae