The Urar mouse-like hamster or Azerbaijani mouse-like hamster (''Calomyscus urartensis'') is a medium-sized

mouse-like hamster image:Calo03.jpg, 200px, right image:Calo13.jpg, 200px, Mouse-like hamster using its tail for balance while standing on a branch (a feat difficult for hamsters) Mouse-like hamsters are a group of small rodents found in Syria, Azerbaijan, Iran, Tu ...

from Nakhichevan,

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

and northwestern Azarbaijan Province,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. It is among the better studied representatives of this poorly known genus. The initial species description was based on a unique

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

number (2n=32; FNa=42) called a

karyotype A karyotype is the general appearance of the complete set of metaphase chromosomes in the cells of a species or in an individual organism, mainly including their sizes, numbers, and shapes. Karyotyping is the process by which a karyotype is disce ...

. The species status has been confirmed with other chromosomal studies and morphometric studies. The species description by Vorontsov ''et al.''Vorontsov, N. N., I. Kartavtseva, and E. G. Potapova. 1979. ystematics of the genus Calomyscus. 1. Karyological differentiation of the sibling species from Transcaucasia and Turkmenia and a review of species in the genus Calomyscus(in Russian). Zoologichaskii Zhurual, 58:1391-1397. and subsequent prompted elevation of several subspecies of ''

Calomyscus bailwardi The Zagros Mountains mouse-like hamster (''Calomyscus bailwardi'') is a relatively little-known rodent which was the first species of mouse-like hamster to be described. The species is distributed throughout much of southern Iran, particularly in ...

'' to species status.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1767969 Mouse-like hamsters Mammals of Western Asia Mammals of Azerbaijan Fauna of Azerbaijan Fauna of Iran Mammals described in 1979