Lagurus lagurus is found on the steppes of Eurasia from the Dnieper River of Ukraine in the West to the Yenisey River northeast of Kazakhstan in the East. The range extends through Kazakhstan into northwest China and northern Mongolia while reaching its southern limit at the Tien Shan Range. The northern limit of the range occurs at about 55ºN. In the Pleistocene the range of the genus Lagurus extended west to France and Britain.

 

There are four subspecies of steppe lemming. Lagurus lagurus lagurus is found in Ukraine and central Kazakhstan. The eastern subspecies, L.l. altorum, is found in southeastern Kazakhstan, northwest China, and Mongolia. Lagurus lagurus agressus, the northern subspecies, is found in the northern European portion of the former U.S.S.R. and in northern Kazakhstan. The isolated subspecies L. l. abacanicus is found in the Minusinsk basin in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. (Gromov and Polyakov, 1992; Ognev, 1964)

 

Biogeographic Regions: Palearctic; Palearctic :: Native