''Urocricetus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

hamster Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera. They have become established as popular small pets. The best-known species of hamster is the golden or Syrian ...

s found on the

Tibetan Plateau The Tibetan Plateau, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or Qingzang Plateau, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central Asia, Central, South Asia, South, and East Asia. Geographically, it is located to the north of H ...

in southern

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. These species have relatively long tails for a hamster, with brownish upperparts and a pure white underside.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Urocricetus'' was originally described by the Russian

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

Konstantin Satunin Konstantin Alekseevich Satunin (20 May 1863–10 November 1915) was a Russian zoologist who graduated at Moscow State University in 1890. From 1893 onward, he worked at a sericulture station in the Caucasus. He was a senior specialist at the Depa ...

as a

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

of ''

Cricetus The European hamster (''Cricetus cricetus''), also known as the Eurasian hamster, black-bellied hamster or common hamster, is the only species of hamster in the genus ''Cricetus''. It is native to grassland and similar habitats in a large par ...

''. ''Urocricetus'' would be sometimes recognized as a subgenus of ''

Cricetulus ''Cricetulus'' is a genus of rodent in the family Cricetidae (voles and hamsters); it has seven member species that inhabit arid or semi-arid regions in Eurasia. They tend to be more ratlike in appearance than typical hamsters, hence the common ...

'' until 2018, when a phylogenetic study revealed this genus to be valid. This genus is a

sister taxa In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

to the desert hamster genus ''

Phodopus ''Phodopus'', a genus of rodents in the hamster subfamily Cricetinae—a division of the larger family Cricetidae—is a lineage of small hamsters native to central Asia that display unusual adaptations to extreme temperatures. They are the only ...

''. As of 2024, two closely related species are recognized in this genus: *''Urocricetus alticola'' -

Ladakh dwarf hamster The Tibetan dwarf hamster (''Urocricetus alticola'') is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found not only in Tibet and China, but also in India and Nepal in mountainous regions at altitudes of up to about . It was moved from the ...

, native to the western

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

, northern

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, and the Chinese

autonomous region An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, zone, entity, unit, region, subdivision, province, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or territory, internal territory of a sovereign state that has ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

*''Urocricetus kamensis'' -

Kam dwarf hamster The Kam dwarf hamster (''Urocricetus kamensis'') is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found only in the mountains of western China where it inhabits grassland, shrubby marshes and steppes. Although it has a limited range, the I ...

, native to the Chinese provinces of

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

and

Qinghai Qinghai is an inland Provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. It is the largest provinces of China, province of China (excluding autonomous regions) by area and has the third smallest population. Its capital and largest city is Xin ...

and the autonomous regions of

and

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

The species '' Cricetulus lama'' and ''Cricetulus tibetanus'' are recognized as valid by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

but considered a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of ''Urocricetus kamensis'' by the

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence ...

. Both of these possibly valid species live on the Tibetan Plateau, while the other valid ''Cricetulus'' species occur further north and northeast of the Tibetan Plateau. More research is needed for this genus at the species level.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q125916104 Hamsters Rodent genera Taxa named by Konstantin Satunin Taxa described in 1903 Rodents of South Asia