Small mammals from the Koren Arctic Expedition to the Kolyma River, northeast Siberia 1914-1918

Abstract

A small mammal collection from the Kolyma region in northeastern Siberia collected by the Norwegian trapper and naturalist Johan Koren between 1915 and 1917 comprises 152 specimens of 17 species. The collection was brought to Norway with Roald Amundsen's “Maud” expedition through the Northeast Passage and has been held by the Zoological Museum, University of Oslo. When comparing the collection with the current distribution of small mammals in the region, it is not possible to detect changes in the small mammal fauna. As several species which are common today are missing in the collection, the collection apparently does not give a complete account of the small mammal fauna in the Kolyma region from 1915 to 1917. This discrepancy can largely be explained by the fact that Koren caught small mammals only in parts of the Kolyma region and not in those areas where the missing species are found in abundance.