Crocidura serezkyensis Laptev, 1929. Opred. Mlekopitay. Sredney Asyy, Tashkent, 1:16.

TYPE LOCALITY: Tadshikistan, Pamir Mtns, Lake Sarezskoye.

DISTRIBUTION: Asia Minor, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tadshikistan and Kazakhstan.

SYNONYMS: arispa.

COMMENTS: Previously included in pergrisea (Spitzenberger, 1971; Jenkins, 1976), but considered a distinct species by Stogov and Bondar (1966) and Stogov (1985). Populations in Asia Minor (arispa Spitzenberger, 1971) are linked with the typical ones in Kazakhstan and Tadshikistan by records from Azerbaijan (Grafodatsky et al., 1988) and Turkmenistan (Stogov and Bondar, 1966). Grafodatsky et al. (1988) reported on the karyotype of a specimen from Dzhulfa, SW Azerbaijan (under the name pergrisea); with 2n=22 serezkyensis has the lowest chromosome number ever recorded for a shrew.