Thomas's pika (''Ochotona thomasi''), also known as the Thomas-pika, is a species of small

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

in the pika family, Ochotonidae. The

fur Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...

on its upper body is reddish brown in summer, and mouse grey in winter. It is a generalist

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

, being found on isolated peaks of the eastern Qilian Mountains in

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

, and northwestern

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

, in China. The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Endangered Species assessed the animal as insufficiently known in 1994, as

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

in 1996, and as a species of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

in 2008.

Taxonomy

Thomas's pika is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

species (having no subspecies), that was first described in 1948 by the Russian

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

A. I. Argyropulo, in the journal ''Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta''. He named it after the British mammalogist

Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for the first time. He was appoin ...

. Thomas's pika is similar to the Gansu pika ('' Ochotona cansus''), with a similar greatest skull length, but can be distinguished by its smaller skull and cheek bone width. In 1974, Feng and Kao synonymised ''O. t. cilanica'' Bannikov 1960 with ''Ochotona thomasi.'' According to '' Mammal Species of the World'', ''O. ciliana'' Bannikov, 1940 is currently its only synonym.

Description

Thomas's pika measures in length, and weighs . The fragile skull is broader anteriorly, and smaller, flatter, and narrower than other pika species. The greatest skull length is . The anterior palatine foramen (funnel-shaped opening in the bony plate of the skull, located in the roof of the mouth, immediately behind the incisor teeth where blood vessels and nerves pass) and the palatal foramen are attached, and there is no oval foramen above the

frontal bone The frontal bone is a bone in the human skull. The bone consists of two portions.''Gray's Anatomy'' (1918) These are the vertically oriented squamous part, and the horizontally oriented orbital part, making up the bony part of the forehead, par ...

. The cheek bones are wide, and the ears measure in length. It has elongated, convex

auditory bullae The tympanic part of the temporal bone is a curved plate of bone lying below the squamous part of the temporal bone, in front of the mastoid process, and surrounding the external part of the ear canal. It originates as a separate bone (tympanic b ...

. The summer dorsal pelage is reddish brown, and the underparts are yellow tinged or light white in colour. The winter dorsal pelage is mouse grey in colour, and the hairs have noticeable black tips. The hindfeet are long.

Distribution and habitat

Endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to China, Thomas's pika is rare, and no intensive population studies have been conducted. It is found on the secluded mountains of the eastern

Qilian Mountain The Qilian Mountains (, also romanized as Tsilien; Mongghul: Chileb), together with the Altyn-Tagh (Altun Shan) also known as Nan Shan (, literally "Southern Mountains"), as it is to the south of Hexi Corridor, is a northern outlier of the Kunl ...

range in

, and northwestern

. It inhabits meadows and isolated hilly, shrubby forests of '' Caragana jubata'', the shrubby cinquefoil (''

Potentilla fruticosa ''Dasiphora fruticosa'' is a species of hardy deciduous flowering shrub in the family Rosaceae, native to the cool temperate and subarctic regions of the northern hemisphere, often growing at high altitudes in mountains. ''Dasiphora fruticosa'' ...

''), ''

Rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

'', and the willow species ('' Salix''), Thomas's pika is

sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...

(existing in the same geographic area and thus frequently encountering) with the Gansu pika which also overlaps in part of its range with the Moupin pika (''

Ochotona thibetana The Moupin pika (''Ochotona thibetana''), also known as Ribetischer Pika, Moupin-Pika, Pika del Tibet, and Manipuri pika,Molur, S., Srinivasulu, C., Srinivasulu, B., Walker, S., Nameer, P. O., & Ravikumar, L. (2005)Status of south Asian non-vol ...

'') but there is no overlap in the ranges of Thomas's and Moupin pikas.

Behavior and ecology

Thomas's pika is a diurnal burrowing species. It is a generalist

, and may live in small family groups. Although its ecology is not well known, it is thought to be similar to that of the Gansu pika. Details about its behaviour and reproduction are also unknown.

Status and conservation

In 1994, Thomas's pika was assessed as insufficiently known on the

IUCN Red List of Endangered Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

. In 1996 it was warranted a near-threatened status, and it nearly even met the vulnerable criteria (A2c + 3c) by both the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

and the Red List of China's Vertebrates due to a declining population of over 30% in the last ten years, in the projected ten years, or in three generations, determined based on a decreasing extant of occurrence, area of occupancy, or quality of habitat. It was re-assessed by IUCN in 2008 and rated as a species of

. This is because, although very little is known about its status, it is a widespread species. The current state of its population trend is unclear. It may be affected by killing due to pest control measures in its range although its effects to the species is unknown. There are no conservation measures to protect Thomas's pika.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas's pika Mammals of China Mammals described in 1948 Pikas Taxonomy articles created by Polbot