Does Microtus majori in Europe

Voles from Mt. Pelister, Macedonia, which are known from the literature as Microtus majori, were subjected to morphometric, karyotypic and electrophoretic analyses, and compared with Microtus subterraneus from Slovenia and Montenegro, and Microtus majori from Asia Minor. The diploid chromosome number of the Pelister voles (2n = 52) is the same as in M. subterraneus from the Balkans. Genetic distances, as revealed by electrophoretic analysis of 27 gene loci between voles from Mt. Pelister and M. subterraneus from Slovenia and Montenegro correspond to those generally observed among subspecies of Arvicolidae. Discriminant analysis of 12 raw skull measurements separated successfully M. majori from M. subterraneus. According to this, the Pelister population should be allocated to the latter, which means that there is no reason to include M. majori in the list of the European fauna