Phillip's Gerbil

discussion

Discussion: Subgenus Taterona. Revised by Bates (1988), who summarized distributional and ecological information, and reviewed by Pavlinov et al. (1990). Sympatric with G. robustus. The form minusculus was included here by Pavlinov et al. (1990) but designated incertae sedis by Bates (1988) because all specimens he examined from the type locality, including topotypes, were juveniles and impossible to identify as either G. phillipsi or G. robusta. A discriminant function analysis of cranial traits was used by Pavlinov (1997) to define the specific distinctness of G. robustus, G. philippsi, and G. guineae and also to demonstrate that holotypes of bodessana and minusculus clustered with examples of G. phillipsi.

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

distribution

Distribution: Somalia and the Rift Valley in Ethiopia and Kenya (see Bates, 1988), westward to Senegal and Mali (see Pavlinov, 1997).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

activity

Activity patterns. Phillips’s Gerbil is probably nocturnal and terrestrial, and digs burrOWS.

Muridae

biology_ecology

Habitat. Phillips’s Gerbil is found in dry Somali-Masai bushland and semi-desert, inhabiting treeless grasslands and thickets with heavy clay soils.

Muridae