Pakistan J. Zool., vol. 47(3), pp. 691-698, 2015. Taxonomical and Karyological Features of Microtus hartingi (Barrett- Hamilton, 1903) (Mammalia: Rodentia) with Some Biological and Ecological Features Mehmet Ali Tabur, 1* Esra Dilek Uğur 1 and İrfan Albayrak 2 1 Biology Department, Science and Arts Faculty, Süleyman Demirel University, 32060 Isparta, Turkey 2 Biology Departments, Science and Arts Faculty, Kırıkkale University, 71450, Yahşihan Kırıkkale, Turkey Abstract.- This study is based on 27 Microtus hartingi (Barrett-Hamilton, 1903) specimens collected from Isparta province between March and September 2010. The specimens were caught by kill and live trapping and they were skinned and stuffed. Some behavioral features of the live sample fed in the laboratory condition were observed. Its karyotypical features were also determined. Specimens were divided into two age groups as juvenile and adult depending on molar wearing, the clearance of the sagittal crest in the skull, pregnancy and nursing status. Diagnostic characters, habitat, fur color, hair morphology, feeding and reproductive behavior, karyology, bacular features in all examined specimen were assessed. It was found that the diploid number (2n), the fundamental number (NF) and the number of autosomal arms (NFa) were 54, 56 and 52, respectively. Consequently, this species known as Microtus guentheri previously in Isparta was determined to be actually Microtus hartingi on the basis of data presented in this work. Key words: Chromosome numbers, cytotaxonomy, karyotype, Microtus hartingi, vole. INTRODUCTION Rodentia is the largest order of living Mammalia, encompassing 2277 species as recognized herein, or approximately 42% of worldwide mammalian biodiversity (Wilson and Reeder, 2005). The genus Microtus (Rodentia: Cricetidae) consists of 65 extant species, making it one of the Rodentia genera with the highest number of species (Lemskaya et al., 2010). The genus Microtus is represented with nine species in Turkey; Microtus anatolicus, M. arvalis, M. daghestanicus, M. dogramacii, M. guentheri, M. levis, M. majori, M. socialis and M. subterraneus (Çolak et al., 1997, Kefelioğlu and Kryštufek, 1999; Kryštufek and Kefelioğlu, 2001; Yiğit and Çolak, 2002; Musser and Carleton, 2005; Mitsainas et al., 2010). There are different systematic reshufflings within Microtus genus. Blackler (1916) described as Microtus lydius specimens morphologically different from Microtus guentheri and collected from İzmir. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1951) regarded M. lydius as a subspecies of M. guentheri. _______________________________ * Corresponding author: mehmetali.tabur@gmail.com 0030-9923/2015/0003-0691 $ 8.00/0 Copyright 2015 Zoological Society of Pakistan In contrast, Corbet (1978) and Harrison and Bates (1991) considered M. guentheri to be a synonym of Microtus socialis. Corbet (1978) also regarded M. lydius as a subspecies of M. socialis. Apart from these taxonomic remarks, M. guentheri was recorded from various localities in Anatolia by Neuhäuser (1936), Ellerman (1948), Osborn (1962), Lehmann (1966), Steiner and Vauk (1966), Çağlar (1967), Lay (1967), Felten et al. (1971), Kock et al. (1972), Morlok (1978), Kefelioğlu (1995), Çolak et al. (1997), and Kefelioğlu and Kryštufek (1999). Since the primary food sources of rodents are wild plants and agricultural products, they are regarded as agricultural pests. Chemical substances used for controlling the species in agricultural areas are known to be harmful to birds and mammals (Rustamani et al., 2005). Kumerloeve (1980) noted high reproductive potential of the species belonging to the subfamily Microtina, and stated that its populations fluctuate depending on the availability of food. Some types of rodents are known as carries of plague, typhoid, typhus and tularemia (Corbet and Southern, 1977). Numerous karyological surveys have been done on the genus Microtus, enhancing the available cytogenetic and karyological data (Fredga and Bergström, 1970; Mazurok et al., 2001; Şekeroğlu et al., 2011; Yavuz et al., 2011; Albayrak et al.,