106.

Waters’s Gerbil

Gerbillus watersi

French: Gerbille de Waters / German: Waters-Rennmaus / Spanish: Gerbillo de Waters

Taxonomy. Gerbillus (Dipodillus) watersi de Winton, 1901,

Shendi, Upper Nile, Sudan.

Formerly listed as a subspecies of G. nanus, G. watersi was returned to species status by D. M. Lay in 1983. D. C. D. Happold in 2013 considered the form G. juliani a valid species, but following J. Roche in 1975, I. Ya. Pavlinov and colleagues in 1990, A. Monadjem and team in 2015, and G. G. Musser and M. D. Carleton in 2005 it is here treated as synonym of G. watersi, pending taxonomic revision of East African gerbils. Monotypic.

Distribution. NE Sudan, SE Djibouti, and Somalia.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 70-96 mm, tail 90-125 mm, ear 10-13 mm, hindfoot 18-23 mm; weight 14-20 g. Waters’s Gerbil is characterized by naked soles and small size. Dorsal pelage is pale to sandy orange in color, flanks are paler, and venter is pure white. Long bicolored tail (135% of head-body length) has terminal half a narrow pencil of long dark hairs. Pregnant females bear four pairs of mammae.

Habitat. Sandy habitats with sparse vegetation along Nile Valley (where Sahara meets Somali-Masai savannas) and along arid coasts of Red Sea.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. Waters’s Gerbil is nocturnal and terrestrial. It lives in burrows during the day.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Waters’s Gerbil is poorly known but is probably rare. Despite its apparent rarity, low abundance, and the poor knowledge ofit, this species is found in a large range oflittle-threatened habitats.

Bibliography. Happold (1967b, 2013a), Lay (1983), Monadjem etal. (2015), Musser & Carleton (2005), Pavlinov et al. (1990), Pearch et al. (2001), Roche (1975).