Mammals of eastern Europe and northern Asia. Vol. 1. Insectivora and Chiroptera. Vol. 2: Carnivora (Fissipedia)

Abstract

This is an important and comprehensive reference work for students of Palaearctic mammals. In its preparation the material in the author's own collection and in 9 leading museums of Russia, Siberia, and Turkestan was consulted. Vol. I deals with 86 forms of Insectivora and 54 forms of Chiroptera; vol. II with 82 forms of Carnivora belonging to the families Ursidae, Canidae, Hyaenidae, and Mustelidae. Three other volumes are projected. There are keys to orders, families, genera, species, and subspecies. The various species and subspecies are very fully treated under such topics as synonymy, references to the literature, diagnosis, description of cranial and external characters, taxonomic notes, geographical distribution, ecology, food, breeding, and general habits. Russian, English, German, French, and native names of species are given. Detailed cranial and external measurements are supplied. The illustrations include photographs of living animals, photographs and drawings of skulls and various other anatomical structures, and distributional maps. Some of the mammals are designated by quadrinomials, the last term being applied to the "natio."[long dash]Vol. I: Erinaceus europaeus centralrossicus pallidus "natio nova" (p. 96), Siberia, type in Zool. Mus. Russian Acad. Sci.; Hemiechinus calligoni turkestanicus* (p. 130), Turkestan, type in author's coll.; ERINACEOLUS (Erinaceidae) (p. 168), type E. microtis* (Hemiechinus m. Laptev) (p. 169) ; Crocidura zarudnyi* (C. tatianae Ognev., preoccupied) (p. 341) ; C. myoides* Blanford, new to Russian Turkestan; C. pamirensis (p. 366), Pamir, type in Zool. Mus. Moscow Univ. [Hemiechinus albulus major (p. 135) and Myotis mystacinus transcaspicus (p. 453), labeled here as new, were described by the author and W. G. Heptner in Zool. Anzeiger 75(11/12) : 1928. See B. A. 2-20101.][long dash]Vol. II: Ursus arctos meridionalis Middendorf ( = U. a. smirnovi Lonnberg); the validity of Melanarctos cavifrons Heude is questioned; Canis lupus albus Kerr ( = C. l. turuchanensis Ognev) ; on the Commander Isls. the blue form of Alopex l. lagopus occurs almost exclusively, and rabies is very frequent among the animals in winter; A. beringensis semenovi (p. 265), Mednyi Isl. (Commander Isls.); Vulpes vulpes daurica (p. 331), Transbaikalia (type, in author's coll.) and northern Mongolia; Nyctereutes procyonoides ussuriensis (N. u. Matschie = N. amurensis Matschie) (p. 361) ; Meles meles heptneri (p. 775), southern Russia, type in author's coll.; M. leptorhynchus talassicus (p. 478), Turkestan, type in Russian Acad. Sci.; Lutra lutra seistanica Birula (=L. l. oxiana Birula); L. l. meridionalis* (p. 527), Persia, type in author's coll.; Martes joina kozlovi (p. 631), Tibet, type in Russian Acad. Sci.; Kolonocus s. sibiricus (Pall.) ( = K. s. australis Satunin) ; Lutreola lutreola L. ( = Mustela lutreola uryborgensis Matschie, M. l. budina Matschie, M. l. varina Matschie, M. l. albica Matschie, M. l. biedermanni Matschie, M. l. aremorica Matschie, M. l. glogeri Matschie). In an addendum to vol. I (pp. 770-775), 6 species are discussed.