Mammals of Korea: a review of their taxonomy, distribution and conservation status
Author
Jo, Yeong-Seok
Author
Baccus, John T.
Author
Koprowski, John L.
text
Zootaxa
2018
2018-11-19
4522
1
1
216
journal article
27944
10.11646/zootaxa.4522.1.1
58e0c7c5-75ec-4b1b-beb0-d01527f710f9
1175-5326
2610198
C24EFA8A-A5A0-4B06-A0A9-632F542B9529
Craseomys regulus
Thomas, 1907
—Korean Red-backed Vole
Craseomys regulus
Thomas, 1906
[
1907
] p.863;
Type
locality-
Mungyeong
(Mingyong),
Gyeongsangbuk
Province
,
Korea
.
Clethrionomys rufocanus regulus
:
Howell, 1929 p.51
;
Kuroda, 1938 p.58
;
Tate, 1947 p.263
;
Ellerman & Morrison-Scott, 1951 p.666
;
Won, 1958 p.445
;
Jones & Johnson, 1965 p.374
;
Won, 1967 p.195
;
Won, 1968 p.204
.
Clethrionomys regulus
:
Kishida & Mori, 1931 p.377
.
Eothenomys regulus
:
Corbet, 1978 p.102
;
Yoon, 1992 p.74
;
Han, 1994 p.47
;
Won & Smith, 1999 p.25
;
Han, 2004c p.130
.
Myodes regulus
:
Musser & Carleton, 2005 p.1025
.
FIGURE 121.
Range map of
Myodes rutilus
in Korea.
Range:
The distribution for Korean red-backed voles covers most of the Korean Peninsula, except the extreme northeastern region and remote islands (
Fig. 122
). The northern limit of this species reaches Gaemagowon.
Remarks:
The species, endemic to the Korean Peninsula, was formerly classified under
Clethrionomys rufocanus
(
Hinton 1926
;
Ellerman & Morrison-Scott 1951
;
Gromov & Polyakov 1992
;
Kaneko 1990
), but when
Corbet (1978)
promoted the Subspecies
C. rufocanus regulus
to the species
C. regulus
, he placed
C. regulus
in the Genus
Eothenomys
.
Kaneko (1990)
in a study of red-backed voles inhabiting
Russia
, northeastern
China
, and
Korea
documented morphological distinctions between
C
.
rufocanus
and
C
.
regulus
and considered the latter to be an endemic species in
Korea
. The author proposed that the geographical demarcation line between the two species occurred on the western and southern boundary of Gaemagowon (Kaima Plateau),
North Korea
. Subsequent mitochondrial and nuclear ribosomal DNA analyzes conclusively demonstrated that
C
.
regulus
was phylogenetically closer to
C
.
rufocanus
(
Suzuki
et al
. 1999
)
.
Wakana
et al
. (1996)
noted that an absence of rooting of molars in the Korean vole was a characteristic that may have developed within a short period of evolutionary time in the population in
Korea
. The G-banding pattern of
regulus
was essentially identical to
C
.
rufocanus
.
Koh
et al
. (2011)
used cytochrome
b
to confirm that red-backed voles from
Korea
were
Myodes
(
Craseomys
)
regulus
. Interspecific distances (4.55%) between
C
.
regulus
from
Korea
and
C
.
rufocanus
from northeast of Gaemagowon indicated that
C. regulus
was an endemic, monotypic species in
Korea
(
Koh
et al
. 2011
).