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The common hamster (Cricetus cricetus) occupies a controversial position among mammals inhabiting agricultural areas, as it is possibly the only critically endangered species that is legally targeted by lethal control methods, making it a conflict‐generating pest. We surveyed various stakeholders, agrarian consultants, wildlife rangers, and residents for the first time in Hungary, with two interrelated questionnaires to obtain accurate information about hamster populations, and to learn about the participants knowledge of, and attitude toward hamsters in order to provide fundamental information for planning and strengthening social embeddedness. Additionally, we prepared the current distribution map of the hamster. Based on the relatively wide distribution and locally high abundance of the species, Hungary has a key role in hamster conservation. We identified several factors, which can contribute to successful species protection. The results indicated that more than 60% of the respondent's liked hamsters. In contrast, only a few residents considered hamsters in their settlement to be beneficial. Our results suggest that the hamster's reputation is disproportionately negative due to vaguely known perceptions of harm as compared with actual reported damage. This imbalance could be rectified through enhanced communication efforts. Improving the species' reputation is integral to effective species conservation initiatives. Current pest control practices (poisons and snap traps) kill the hamsters, even though 82% of the residents would prefer to keep the hamsters alive, conforming to conservation efforts. The results also indicated that the hamster could be a flagship species in Hungary. Knowledge of the protected status of the hamster predicted a positive attitude toward the species and related to nature conservation consciousness. We conclude that requirements of residents should be included in the species action plan along with the experts' knowledge, as this could contribute to successful, long‐term conservation of the hamster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The common hamster in Hungary, once categorized as Least Concern, is now Critically Endangered due to habitat loss from agricultural practices. Despite a peak in population size in 2020, the hamster population in Hungary has reached an all-time low. Conservation efforts are hindered by conflicting laws that allow farmers to exterminate populations without permission, potentially jeopardizing the species. Research shows a decline in genetic diversity and highlights the need for collaboration between conservationists and farmers to protect the Pannonian hamster's future. [Extracted from the article]

The systematics of the genus S icista is unclear, mostly because of the high level of chromosomal variability within the genus. One of the most challenging groups for systematists is the steppic S icista subtilis species group that extends from central Europe to Lake Baikal. We present a systematic review of these European southern birch mice using an integrative taxonomic approach., In this review, we evaluate the degree of genetic and morphological differentiation of the S icista subtilis complex by analysing 12 European populations, and propose a new taxonomic treatment for the subtilis group based on an integrative approach combining phylogenetic and morphometric analyses with a review on previously published cytogenetic and morphological data., The phylogenetic relationship was reconstructed using sequences of the whole mitochondrial cytochrome b ( CytB) and the nucleus-encoded interphotoreceptor binding protein ( IRBP) under the maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood criteria. Based on whole CytB sequences, genetic distances were reconstructed and visualised among the taxa. These data were supplemented with multivariate analysis of the morphology of the baculum and of the penile spike of museum specimens., Based on the genetic and the morphological data set, we suggest that the subspecies trizona and nordmanni should be raised to the species rank. We suggest S icista trizona ( Frivaldszky, 1865) and S icista nordmanni ( Keyserling and Blasius, 1840) as names for these species, respectively., The species status of S icista severtzovi is not supported by our results, so we recommend reclassifying it as a subspecies of S icista subtilis., Finally, the large genetic distance between the Hungarian and Romanian populations of S icista trizona led us to describe the Romanian population as a new subspecies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs) is growing in countries with dense road networks. By temporal analysis of WVCs on Hungarian highways and railways, we aim to answer the following questions: 1) how did the number of WVCs change over the last decade on highways and railways, 2) what combination of road, weather and population related temporal factors produced these trends, 3) was there any relationship between the trends of WVCs occurring on the two transport corridors? Therefore, the influence of road (traffic, speed), weather (snow-cover, temperature, precipitation) and population related variables (harvest, estimated population size) on railway and highway WVCs was tested; in addition the study examines the WVC-statistics of several game species (roe deer, red deer, wild boar, red fox) simultaneously. The train collisions are given more emphasis than road collisions because this type of data and their analyses are mostly absent in the literature. A strong relation was found between railway and highway WVCs (R2=0.83; p=0.0001). Among weather factors only the mean annual temperature correlated positively with the number of WVCs. According to our results the population related variables alone did not explain the rising WVC-trends - apart from the wild boar-train collisions. A probable explanation for this is that the population related variables do not characterize the real population sizes adequately, and other factors such as the traffic and the speed of vehicles had a strong effect on WVCs, which obscure the exact role of population sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Southern birch mouse ( Sicista subtilis) is a small-sized rodent species characteristic of the Palearctic steppes with westernmost occurrences in central Europe. The species was considered to be extinct in Transylvania (central Romania), but in our field survey we captured three living individuals near the city of Cluj-Napoca. On the basis of nuclear interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 sequences, we assessed the taxonomic status of the newly found S. subtilis population by comparing them to available sequences, including the sequences of its subspecies. The Transylvanian samples were found to be genetically closest to the Hungarian samples of S. subtilis trizona. These new records extend the known geographic range of this rediscovered species and provide additional information on its habitat preference and external morphological features. Moreover, our phylogenetic tree reconstruction for seven Sicista taxa provides a basic insight into the phylogenetic relationships of the genus, placing the northern Eurasian taxa ( S. betulina and S. subtilis) at the crown of the tree and the central Asian taxa at the base of the tree. The Transylvanian occurrence of S. subtilis trizona, which is endemic to the Carpathian Basin, is of high faunistic value as a result of an increase in the number of known populations of this subspecies - one of the most endangered rodents of Europe - from one to two. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]