Lagurus (rodent) explained

Lagurus is a genus in the subfamily Arvicolinae (voles, lemmings, and related species). Lagurus includes a single living species, the steppe lemming (Lagurus lagurus) of central Eurasia.^[1] The North American sagebrush vole (Lemmiscus curtatus) has also been included in Lagurus, but is likely not closely related.^[2] The earliest fossils of Lagurus, allocated to Lagurus arankae, appear in the Late Pliocene. Two other fossil species, Lagurus pannonicus and Lagurus transiens, are thought to be part of a lineage that led to the living steppe lemming.^[3]

Literature cited

• Chaline, J., Brunet-Lecomte, P., Montuire, S., Viriot, L. and Courant, F. 1999. Anatomy of the arvicoline radiation (Rodentia): palaeogeographical, palaeoecological history and evolutionary data. Annales Zoologici Fennici 36:239–267.
• McKenna, M.C. and Bell, S.K. 1997. Classification of Mammals: Above the species level. New York: Columbia University Press, 631 pp.
• Musser, G.G. and Carleton, M.D. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894–1531 in Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference. 3rd ed. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols., 2142 pp.

Notes and References

1. Musser and Carleton, 2005, p. 983
2. Musser and Carleton, 2005, p. 985
3. Chaline et al., 1999, pp. 251–252; McKenna and Bell, 1997, p. 153