NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Romanian Hamster
Mesocricetus newtoni (Nehring, 1898)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Mesocricetus newtoni.
Demian Hiß · CC BY 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Romanian hamster or Dobrudja hamster (Mesocricetus newtoni) is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in Bulgaria and Romania. The scientific name honors the British ornithologist Alfred Newton, who had published a short description and an illustration of this species in 1870 without knowing it to be a valid species.
Wikipedia contributors, Romanian hamster; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:21:17.073880+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Mesocricetus newtoni (Nehring, 1898)
- Name authority
- (Nehring, 1898)
- Common name
- Romanian Hamster
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Rodentia
- Family
- Cricetidae
- Genus
- Mesocricetus
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderRodentia Bowdich, 1821
- suborderMyomorpha Brandt, 1855
- superfamilyMuroidea Illiger, 1811
- familyCricetidae Fischer, 1817
- subfamilyCricetinae Fischer, 1817
- genusMesocricetus Nehring, 1898
- speciesMesocricetus newtoni (Nehring, 1898)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Mesocricetus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Golden HamsterMesocricetus auratus (Waterhouse, 1839) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Brandt's HamsterMesocricetus brandti (Nehring, 1898) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ciscaucasian HamsterMesocricetus raddei (Nehring, 1894) | CricetidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=632737 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:42383. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.