''Lagurus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

in the subfamily

Arvicolinae The Arvicolinae are a subfamily of rodents that includes the voles, lemmings, and muskrats. They are most closely related to the other subfamilies in the Cricetidae (comprising the hamsters and New World rats and mice). Some authorities place ...

(voles, lemmings, and related species). ''Lagurus'' includes a single living species, the

steppe lemming The steppe lemming or steppe vole (''Lagurus lagurus'') is a small, plump, light-grey rodent, similar in appearance to the Norway lemming ('' Lemmus lemmus''), but not in the same genus. The steppe lemming eats shoots and leaves and is more act ...

(''Lagurus lagurus'') of central Eurasia. The North American sagebrush vole (''Lemmiscus curtatus'') has also been included in ''Lagurus'', but is likely not closely related. The earliest fossils of ''Lagurus'', allocated to '' Lagurus arankae'', appear in the

Late Pliocene Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effect, ...

. Two other fossil species, '' Lagurus pannonicus'' and '' Lagurus transiens'', are thought to be part of a lineage that led to the living steppe lemming.Chaline et al., 1999, pp. 251–252; McKenna and Bell, 1997, p. 153

References

Literature cited

*Chaline, J., Brunet-Lecomte, P., Montuire, S., Viriot, L. and Courant, F. 1999. Anatomy of the arvicoline radiation (Rodentia): palaeogeographical, palaeoecological history and evolutionary data. Annales Zoologici Fennici 36:239–267. *McKenna, M.C. and Bell, S.K. 1997. Classification of Mammals: Above the species level. New York: Columbia University Press, 631 pp. *Musser, G.G. and Carleton, M.D. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894–1531 in Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M. (eds.)
Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference. 3rd ed
Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols., 2142 pp. Lagurini Rodent genera Mammal genera with one living species Taxa named by C. L. Gloger {{Arvicolinae-stub kk:Алақоржын