A new species of voles, Microtus elbeyli sp. nov., from Turkey with taxonomic overview of social voles distributed in southeastern Anatolia

Abstract

There are twelve Microtus species in Turkey and two of them are endemic to the steppic central Anatolian plateau. In this study, previously collected specimens that were recorded as Microtus irani from southeastern Turkey were reevaluated by karyologically comparing different species distributed throughout southeastern Turkey. The taxonomic status of this species was raised to a new species, Microtus elbeyli sp. nov., which has dark ochreous dorsal color, agrestis morphotype in M2, and 2n = 46, NF = 50, NFa = 46 karyotype. The new species described here raises the total number of Microtus species in Turkey to 13 and endemic vole species in Anatolia to three.