Conclusive remarks about the synonymy of Mus meridionalis O. G. Costa, 1844 (Mammalia, Rodentia, Muridae)

摘要

A missing specimen of a small rodent, originally described by Oronzio Gabriele Costa in 1844 as the new species Mus meridionalis, has recently come to light at the Zoological Museum of the Federico II University in Naples. Cavazza (1911) carried out the last direct analysis of the specimen and confirmed its status. On the basis of some original drawings, its general description and measurements other. Authors later supposed M. meridionalis to be synonymous with Micromys minutus We re-examined the specimen - one of the two used by O. G. Costa to describe the species - 90 years later and confirm its synonymy with M. minutus. The specimen has been designated as lectotype and represents the first certain report in southern Italy of M. minutus, whose present distribution, south of the Po Valley, is also discussed.