Two New Species of <i>Ochotona</i> (Mammalia, Lagomorpha) From Xizang, China
Bibliographic record
Abstract
ABSTRACT During small mammal faunal surveys conducted in the Xizang Autonomous Region, China, in 2003, 2023, and 2024, we collected two previously unidentifiable taxa of pikas ( Ochotona ). Phylogenetic analyses based on both mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences resolved these specimens as distinct lineages within the O. macrotis and O. forresti species groups, both in the subgenus Conothoa . Morphological comparisons further supported their uniqueness. Consequently, we described them here as two new species. One new species, O. galunglaensis sp. nov., collected from Motuo and Bomi counties, exhibits the following diagnostic characteristics: (1) diminutive body size (mean head‐body length < 150 mm); (2) reduced auricular dimensions (ear length < 18 mm); (3) summer pelage exhibits brown‐red on top of head, beneath eyes, and shoulders; neck bears a gray patch and ventral light brown‐gray; (4) without oval foramen; foramina incisivum narrow and palatal foramina merged; and (5) premaxillae on both sides of foramina incisivum have a tendency to close in some specimens. The other new species, O. legbona sp. nov., collected from Cuona county, is unique as follows: (1) comparable head‐body length to O. macrotis , but with much shorter ears (mean 23 mm vs. 31–35 mm in congeners); (2) characteristic black vibrissae lining the inner pinnae; (3) summer pelage exhibits brown‐red on head, shoulder, and neck; ventral brown‐yellow; and (4) without oval foramen; foramina incisivum narrow and palatal foramina merged. Our findings highlight the previously underestimated diversity within Conothoa and contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of pika diversity in the Himalayan region.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".