中国鼠兔属（Ochotona: Ochotonidae）分类与系统发育研究

Pikas distribute in North America and North Asia. They were considered an endemic group to Holarctic realm. This taxon belongs to Order Lagomorpha, Family Ochotonoidae, and the monotypic genus Ochotona..The number of species in this genus is not definitely established. Gureen (1964) recognized the existence of 15 species: O. alpine, O. curzoniae, O. dauurica, O. erythrotis, O. kamensis, O. kozlovi, O. ladacensis, O. nepalensis, O. pricei (=O. pallasi), O. pusilla, O. roylei, O. rufescens, O. rutila, O. Thomas, and O. thibetana. According to Sokolov (1977), there are 18 species in the genus Ochotona, beside the species listed above, O. hyperborean, O. collaris, and O. princeps also added here. Corbet (1978) only recognized 14 species in this genus Ochotona. He treated O. forresti, O. macrotis, O, himalayana , O. lama as synonyms of O. roylei; O. gloveri as synonyms of O. erythrotis; O. hyperborean, O. collaris as synonyms of O. alpine; O. huangensis, O. cansus as synonyms of O. thibetana. Honacki (1982) recognized 19 species in the genus Ochotona. He treated O. lama, O. macrotis, O. collaris as valid species. Erbeava (1988) recognized 21 species. He treated O. himalayana and O. angdawi as valid species. Recently, Hoffman and Smith (2005) recognized 30 species..Species of Chinese pikas also disputed a lot. Allen only accepted 8 species in China. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1951) thought 12 species of pikas distributing in China. Corbet (1978) recognized 14 species in Chian. Feng and Zheng (1985), Wang (2003), Hoffman and Smith (2005) recognized 17, 24 and 24 species correspondingly..Concerning subgenera of Ochotona, there are also many different opinions. Gureev (1964), Corbet (1978), Corbet and Hill (1986, 1992), Nowak (1999) did not divide Ochotona into subgenera. Argiropulo (1940), Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1951), Feng and Zheng (1985), Niu et al (2001) recognized two subgenera under Ochotona. Ognev (1940), Yu et al (2000), Hoffman (2005) divided Ochotona into three subgenera. Erbaeva(1988) and Soklov et al (1994) divided Ochotona into seven subgenera..Previous taxonomic study on pikas has been using traditional morphological methods. But there are only very few characteristics of skull which can be use to taxonomy of pikas. The main traits using to pika taxonomy are measurements, color and hairs on fore- and hindfeet. Those traits are inconstant along with different habitats and seasons. Very few molecular studies were put into practice (Yu,et al. 1997; Yu et al. 200; Niu et al. 2004) and these studies were restricted by materials or materials mainly from Museum. So previous molecular studies did not finely reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships on Ochotona..Our study manage to collect more samples, use morphological, phallic and molecular methods to detect phylogenetic relationship and resolve disputations of pika's taxonomy. We plan to collect about 10 species of 1000 specimens in Neimeng, Xinjiang, Qinghai, and Northeast China.

鼠兔属为全北界特有属，分布于亚洲北部和北美。全世界约有30种，80%分布于中国。一般认为有2个亚属：耗兔亚属（Pika）和鼠兔亚属（Ochotona）。但究竟有多少亚属？多少种？一直存在争议。在亚属数量上，有的认为没有亚属分化，有的认为有2个亚属，有的认为有3个亚属，有的认为有7个亚属；种类上，从15种到30种不等。中国有分布的种类也有很多争议，从8个种到24种不等。造成争议的主要原因是鼠兔的分类主要依据外部形态特征，客观的头骨形态可以用于分类的特征少。过去的研究主要运用经典分类方法，细胞学、酶学和分子系统学研究很少，且标本数量和种类有限，或分子序列太短。本研究拟通过广泛采集标本，采用经典分类学、阴茎形态学和分子系统学相结合的方法解决鼠兔属动物在亚属和种级单元的分类问题；理清鼠兔属动物的系统发育关系；力争采集到中国有分布的所有鼠兔种标本，积累鼠兔类标本3000号以上，为进一步研究打下基础。

“中国鼠兔属分类与系统发育研究”项目组开展了艰苦的采集工作，在四川、陕西、云南、青海、西藏和内蒙6省进行了14次野外采集，共计采集各类小型兽类标本1500多号，其中鼠兔类标本313号，采集到了很多珍贵的鼠兔类地模标本，包括木里鼠兔、片马鼠兔、高黎贡鼠兔、狭颅鼠兔、黄河鼠兔，喜马拉雅鼠兔，尤其56年后，再次采集到了非常珍贵的木里鼠兔。通过分形态学和子系统学研究，明确了黄河鼠兔、高黎贡鼠兔、狭颅鼠兔、木里鼠兔、间颅鼠兔和大耳鼠兔的分类地位。发现黄河鼠兔是间颅鼠兔（O. cnasus）的亚种；木里鼠兔是川西鼠兔的同物异名；高黎贡鼠兔和片马鼠兔是灰颈鼠兔的同物异名；喜马拉雅鼠兔可能是灰鼠兔的同物异名，但有待深入研究；奴布拉克鼠兔（O. nubrica）鼠兔是黑唇鼠兔的同物异名；大耳鼠兔和间颅鼠兔是独立种；鼠兔属分为五个亚属，分别是Ochotona, Pika, Lagotona 和Conothoa及一个新发现的支系（可能是新亚属）。首次证实东北鼠兔长白山亚种（O. hyperborean coreana）是独立种；藏鼠兔循化亚种（O. thibetana xunhuaensis）是独立种。采集到了至少一个鼠兔属动物新种。发表论文2篇，其中SCI论文1篇（已经提供Proof，即将发表）。建立了四川省林科院博物馆，添置了小型兽类标本柜。全面完成了项目的目标任务。