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We looked at lectotype designations by Baranova and Gromov from among syntypes in the Mammal Collection of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ZIN) in St. Petersburg, Russia. We identified 20 lectotypifications, published in 2003, which do not accord to Articles 74.7.3 and/or 74.1.3 of the Code and are therefore invalid. Particularly instructive is the case of Lemmus obensis bungei Vinogradov, B.S. (1924). Two new interesting lemmings from Siberia. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 9: 186–188, since its syntypes originated from two allopatric phylogenetic lineages which were classified as distinct nominal taxa. Because the act of lectotypification by Baranova and Gromov does not contain an express statement of deliberate designation as is requested by the amended Article 74.7.3 of the Code, their designation is not valid. To secure the nomenclatural stability of Siberian lemmings we designate voucher ZIN 11,025 (skin and skull from Sagastyr Island) as the lectotype of Lemmus obensis bungei. The name bungei thus defined is a junior synonym of Lemmus lemmus sibiricus (Kerr, R. (1792). The animal kingdom [...] of the celebrated Sir Charles Linnæus. Class I. Mammalia, J. Murray, London) with a range at the shores of the Arctic Ocean, between the Northern Dvina and Lena Rivers. We furthermore provide a list of all invalid lectotypifications of hamsters (Cricetinae) and voles (Arvicolinae) based on ZIN syntypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We tested whether biogeographic patterns characteristic of species diversity and composition may also apply to community assembly by investigating geographic variation in the pattern (PSA) (aggregation versus segregation) and strength of species associations (SSA) in flea and mite communities harbored by small mammalian hosts in Western Siberia. We asked whether (a) there is a relationship between latitude and PSA or SSA and (b) similarities in PSA or SSA follow a distance decay pattern or if they are better explained by variation in environmental factors (altitude, amount of vegetation, precipitation, and air temperature). We used a sign of a co-occurrence metric (the C-score) as an indicator of PSA and its absolute standardized value as a measure of SSA. We analyzed data using logistic and linear models, generalized dissimilarity modeling (GDM), and a logistic version of the multiple regression on distance matrices (MRM). The majority of the C-scores of the observed presence/absence matrices indicated a tendency to species aggregation rather than segregation. No effect of latitude on PSA or SSA was found. The dissimilarity in PSA was affected by environmental dissimilarity in mite compound communities only. A relatively large proportion of the deviance of spatial variation in SSA was explained by the GDMs in infracommunities, but not component communities, and in only three (of seven) and two (of eight) host species of fleas and mites, respectively. The best predictors of dissimilarity in SSA in fleas differed between host species, whereas the same factor (precipitation) was the best predictor of dissimilarity in SSA in mites. We conclude that PSA and SSA in parasite communities rarely conform to biogeographic rules. However, when a biogeographic pattern is detected, its manifestation differs among hosts and between ectoparasite taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]