Chionomys (Hypudaeus) syriacus (Brants, 1827)

14. European Snow Vole, Chionomys (Hypudaeus) syriacus (Brants, 1827)

(IUCN Red List: LC)

Subspecies: Aharoni (1932) recognized two subspecies: C. s. hermonis (Miller, 1908) (southwestern region and Palestine) and C. s. pontius (Miller, 1908). A specimen obtained from the southwestern region was assigned to C. s. hermonis, which occurs in Palestine, and another specimen obtained from Kafroun was assigned to C. s. pontius, which occurs in Turkey ( Aharoni 1932).

Distribution: Sporadic and uncommon; confined to the coastal and southwestern regions ( Fig. 19 View FIGURE 19 ).

Previous records: Mount Hermon ( Tristram 1888), Kafrun (Kafroun) ( Aharoni 1932), Mesiaf ( Shehab 2002), Abu Qubays ( Daoud & Khalil 2009a), and Ain Arab, Tar Sali, and Al-Mahbat ( Shehab et al. 2018).

Recent record: 5 km north of Halbon (2020).

Remarks: Previously known as C. nivalis (Martins, 1842) . Hypudaeus syriacus Brants, 1827 , which had been synonymized with Microtus socialis (Pallas, 1773) ( Musser & Carleton 2005) , is identical to the European snow vole ( Kryštufek et al. 2021). Referring to the principle of priority, the valid name combination for the European snow vole would therefore be Chionomys syriacus (Brants, 1827) , which predates C. nivalis (Martins, 1842) by 15 years. However, a strict adherence to the priority rule would destabilize the nomenclature and the case has been submitted to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) with a request to use its plenary power and protect Arvicola nivalis Martins ( Kryštufek et al. 2021; Kryštufek & Shenbrot 2022). Regardless of this, syriacus Brants is a senior synonym of hermonis Miller, 1908 from Mount Hermon.