Urar mouse-like hamster

Urar mouse-like hamster
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Superfamily:	Muroidea
Family:	Calomyscidae
Genus:	Calomyscus
Species:	C. urartensis
Binomial name
Calomyscus urartensis Vorontsov, Kartavtseva, Potapova, 1979

The Urar mouse-like hamster or Azerbaijani mouse-like hamster, Calomyscus urartensis, is a medium-sized mouse-like hamster from Nakhichevan, Azerbaijan and northwestern Azarbaijan Province, Iran. It is among the better studied representatives of this poorly known genus. The initial species description was based on a unique chromosome number (2n=32; FNa=42) called a karyotype. The species status has been confirmed with other chromosomal studies and morphometric studies. The species description by Vorontsov et al.^[2] and subsequent prompted elevation of several subspecies of Calomyscus bailwardi to species status.

References

1. Shenbrot, G. & Kryštufek, B. (2008). Calomyscus urartensis. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 20 March 2009. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern
2. Vorontsov, N. N., I. Kartavtseva, and E. G. Potapova. 1979. [Systematics of the genus Calomyscus. 1. Karyological differentiation of the sibling species from Transcaucasia and Turkmenia and a review of species in the genus Calomyscus] (in Russian). Zoologichaskii Zhurual, 58:1391-1397.