Lagurus (rodent)

Lagurus
Temporal range: Late Pliocene to Recent
Steppe lemming (Lagurus lagurus)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Cricetidae
Subfamily: Arvicolinae
Tribe: Lagurini
Genus: Lagurus
Gloger, 1841
Type species
Mus lagurus
Pallas, 1773
Species

See text.

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]

  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