New record of Microtus mystacinus in Eastern Kazakhstan. New record of Microtus mystacinus in Eastern Kazakhstan

The East European vole (Microtus mystacinus) is an arvicoline rodent distributed in N and E Europe, Balkans, Turkey, Armenia, NW and N Iran, Russia as far E as Tobol River in W Siberia and W and N Kazakhstan. We identified an additional distribution of this species in eastern Kazakhstan (village Dzhambul - 49°14'21.3"N 86°18'29.9"E and the village Sekisovka - 50°21'9.18"N 82°35'46.5"E) using the mitochondrial (cyt b) identification. We consider MIS 11 as an important period for the diversification of arvalis–group. In the context of our study, it is important to analyse genetically discontinuous Siberia populations, and further map out the extent of M. mystacinus occurrence in East Kazakhstan.