Cansumys canus G. M. Allen 1928 Cansumys canus G. M. Allen 1928, J. Mammal., 9: 245. Type Locality: China, S Gansu Prov., Jonê (=Choni or Cho-Ni), "around 2500 m " (Corbet and Hill, 1992:393). Vernacular Names: Gansu Hamster. Distribution: Known only from the type locality and possibly Henan Prov., NC and EC China; limits unresolved. Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc). Discussion: Viewed either as a form of Cricetulus triton (Corbet, 1978 c; Ellerman, 1941; Ellerman and Morrison-Scott, 1951) or as a valid species of Cansumys (Corbet and Hill, 1991, 1992; Musser and Carleton, 1993; Pavlinov et al., 1995 a). Zhang et al. (1997) and Wang (2003) included Shaanxi Prov. within the distribution of canus (as a species of Cricetulus or Cansumys, respectively) because they regarded ningshaanensis as its subspecies; in fact, Song (1985) had described ningshaanensis from Shaanxi as a subspecies of Tscherskia triton. The tail in ningshaanensis has a longer white segment and is longer relative to head and body as compared with triton, but no other features in the original description implicate ningshaanensis as a form of canus. Cansumys canus possesses long semi-hypsodont molar rows (6.4-6.6 mm; based on the holotype and two topotypes in AMNH and FMNH), but ningshaanensis has shorter toothrows (4.7-5.7 mm), well within the range characteristic of T. triton. The occurrence of C. canus in Henan Prov., as reported by Lu and Wang (1996), also requires reverification.

Published as part of Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Cricetidae, pp. 955-1189 in Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore :The Johns Hopkins University Press on page 1041, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7316535