Small mammals are just as likely to become extinct as larger species, although the latter receive disproportionate attention with respect to conservation activity and research. We focused on rarity, vulnerability to extinction and conservation status for small terrestrial mammals from the orders Soricomorpha and Rodentia occurring in the Balkans and Anatolia. Although these two regions have fewer mammalian species than Central Europe in very small biota areas (surface areas 4 km2), they accumulate species at a much faster rate with increases in surface area. The distribution ranges of fifteen species from a total of 88 (= 17%) are confined to this studied area, with eight species being endemic to Anatolia and six to the Balkans. High endemism is indicative of small ranges, i.e. of one form of rarity of Rabinowitz’s ‘seven forms of rarity’ model. The ranges of at least three species (Talpa davidiana, Myomimus roachi and Dinaromys bogdanovi) have declined since the Last Glacial Maximum. Although numbers of extinctions correlates strongly with the number of endemics, and species displaying both restricted distribution and low density are those most at risk of extinction, very little conservation activity and research is focused on small-range endemics.
The increasing use of phylogeographic studies, based on mitochondrial DNA, in European mammals not only provides the genetic structure of the populations and a reconstruction of the evolutionary history of each taxon but is also useful in identifying cryptic species and areas that may represent conservation priorities. We reviewed the published data (about 60 articles) reporting phylogeographic studies, based on sequences of mtDNA genes, in order to identify those populations representing putative species, not yet formally described among European mammal species of all orders, with the exception of Chiroptera. A DNA taxonomic approach and the value of subspecies are also discussed in relation to conservation activities.