Кариотип лесного лемминга (Myopus schisticolor Liljeborg, 1844) предгорий Северного Урала

Изучен кариотип двух самок лесного лемминга (Мyopus schisticolor Liljeborg, 1844) в таежных местообитаниях предгорий Северного Урала (Печоро-Илычский государственный природный биосферный заповедник). Число хромосом у обеих самок равно 32, животные относятся к генотипу Х*Х. Дальнейшие исследования, возможно, позволят выявить другие женские генотипы в популяциях лесного лемминга в данном районе.

An early (1834) illustration of the wood lemming, Myopus schisticolor (Lilljeborg, 1844), from Finland

The wood lemming, Myopus schisticolor, was described as a new species by the Swedish zoologist Wilhelm Lilljeborg in 1844 from a specimen captured in Norway the year before. With the original description was a fine hand-coloured lithograph by the artist Magnus Körner. A Latin translation of the description published later that year also used an illustration by Körner, but it was of lesser quality. However, the species had been observed, described and depicted earlier, but these renderings never reached the scientific community. In 2008 and 2009 respectively, one illustration of the wood lemming made by the Finnish-born artist Wilhelm von Wright was sold twice at auctions in Stockholm. The illustration is dated 1834 and shows a specimen that was found dead at the artist's native home, Haminalaks, in Kuopio parish, Central Finland, that year. However, an accurate description of the species had already been made in 1765, by a group of young naturalists on a tour in the Swedish province Dalecarlia.