Contents: Volume 7 (1) 2008 (Printed 30 December 2008)

Averianov A.O., Lopatin A.V., Krasnolutskii S.A.

P. 1-4

An isolated upper molariform tooth from the Middle Jurassic Itat Formation at Berezovsk Quarry, Krasnoyarsk Territory, West Siberia, Russia, is identified as Eutriconodonta indet. By low angulation of the main cusps, reduction of the labial cingulum, and interrupted lingual cingulum it is similar with anterior upper molariform teeth (M1-2) of Gobiconodontidae. This taxon may belong to the oldest gobiconodontid which have not been reported previously from the Jurassic.

Lissovsky A.A., Yang Q., Pil’nikov A.E.

P. 5-16

Pikas from Manchurian region were studied using craniometric, bioacoustical, and genetic features. The study revealed that southeast Transbaikalia and northern Manchuria are inhabited by only one taxon of the species level — Ochotona mantchurica Thomas, 1909. The name cinereofusca should be allocated to a form of O. hyperborea from the left bank of Shilka River. The taxon coreana does not belong either to O. mantchurica or O. hyperborea, and, probably, should be recognized as a separate species O. coreana Allen & Andrews, 1913.

Abramson N.I., Kostygov A.Yu., Rodchenkova E.N.

P. 17-23

New data that significantly specified phylogeography and taxonomic structure of Palearctic lemmings (Lemmus) have been obtained. Therewith, the data on nucleotide composition of cyt b in true lemmings from the Lena River mouth, the terra typica for L. sibiricus bungei were of particular significance. It has been shown that 1) results are highly reproducible; 2) new, for the first time studied samples from the mouth of the Lena River undoubtedly referred to the west clade and thus, its border shifts to the east; 3) distinguishing of the distinct species L. bungei is not supported by morphological, biological, and molecular data as far as terra typica is inhabited by lemmings referring to the clade of typical L. sibiricus. New data on the variation of cyt b are in a good agreement with morphological, paleontological, and zoogeographical data. They better fit the taxonomic division of the genus.

Zou G., Zhou L., Zha X., Zhang B., Zhao T., Liang J.

P. 25-32

In order to examine DNA sequence variation, the cause of geographic patterns and historical demography of populations, we sampled 69 individuals of Midday gerbil Meriones meridianus. Among the comparable sequences of 396 bp, 52 haplotypes were defined, 97 nucleotide sites were variable (24.5% in the full sequences). Phylogenetic tree constructed using the neighbor-joining (NJ) of haplotypes demonstrated three clades associated with geographical regions. There were no shared haplotypes found among regions. Time of gene divergence between three clades of Midday gerbil was estimated by mean nucleotide difference, suggesting the divergence of three clades during the Middle Pleistocene. The pattern of phylogenetic discontinuity is a result of both factors which is associated with the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and climate change in Quaternary ice ages. We also examined the historical demography of the clades using stepwise and exponential expansion models, both of which indicated recent rapid population growth. The pairwise mismatch distribution suggested a pattern of population expansion. The population expansion analysis indicated that the present distribution of the population was probably shaped through the rapid range expansion during the last interglaciation stage from the refugium.

Baryshnikov G.F., Petrova E.A.

P. 33-40

Two mandibles of the cave lion referred to the nominotypical subspecies Panthera spelaea spelaea are recorded for the first time in the Pleistocene of Chuvashiya. The distribution map of this subspecies in the Eastern Europe is given.

Abramov A.V., Baranova G.I.

P. 41-50

All the available collecting data on the mammal collection made during the 1822-1829 Brazil expedition under the leadership by G.I. Langsdorff are provided. The collection is kept in the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg and at present contains 184 specimens of 74 species and 26 families of the orders Didelphimorphia, Cingulata, Pilosa, Primates, Lagomorpha, Chiroptera, Carnivora, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, and Rodentia.