Gerbillus gerbillus (Olivier, 1801)

Guy G. Musser & Michael D. Carleton, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 501-755 : 551

Gerbillus gerbillus (Olivier, 1801) . Bull. Sci. Soc. Philom. Paris, 2:121.

TYPE LOCALITY: Egypt, Giza Prov .

DISTRIBUTION: From Israel through Egypt and N Sudan to Morocco; also N Mali, N Niger, and N Chad (see Corbet, 1978c; Harrison and Bates, 1991:283; Osborn and Helmy, 1980:131).

SYNONYMS: aegyptius , aeruginosus, asyutensis, discolor , foleyi , hirtipes , longicaudatus , psamnwphilous, sudanensis.

COMMENTS: Geographic portions reviewed by Ranck (1968), Corbet (1978c), Lay (1983), Kowalski and Rzebik-Kowalska (1991), and Harrison and Bates (1991). In 1983, Lay drew attention to the lack of inquiry into variation in this species which has such an extensive range; that complaint stands today and the species needs careful taxonomic review. The form hirtipes was synonymized with G. gerbillus by Cockrum (1976), but because of his inadequate documentation, Lay (1983) was reluctant to accept this union. Cockrum's evidence was scanty, but we are swayed by Kowalski and Rzebik-Kowalska's (1991) argument for merging hirtipes with G. gerbillus . The origin of multiple sex chromosomes in this species was discussed by Wahrman et al. (1983).