Libyan Jird

discussion

Remarks: Meriones l. erythrourus (Gray, 1842) is reported from the eastern parts of the Euphrates Valley; M. l. syrius Thomas, 1919, which was first described from Al-Qaryatein (Harrison & Bates 1991), is confined to the western parts of the Euphrates Valley. However, based on the phylogeographic study carried out by Dianat et al. (2019), only M. l. syrius occurs in Syria.

Checklist of Mammals of Syria

distribution

Distribution: Common with a wide range; restricted to arid and semi-arid areas (Fig. 32). Previous records: Deir ez-Zor (Aharoni 1932), vicinity of Tall Abiad (Misonne 1957), Al-Qaryatein, Khan Abou Chamate, and the vicinity of Palmyra (Harrison 1972), Talila Reserve to the northeast of Palmyra (Habibi 1998), ar- Rasafah (Shehab et al. 2004), 90 km east of Damascus along the highway to Palmyra, south of an-Nasiriyah, and Mhassa near Al-Qaryatein (Mamkhair et al. 2007), vicinity of Palmyra (Serra 2002; Serra et al. 2009 a, b), and Dumair (Shehab et al. 2018).

Checklist of Mammals of Syria

discussion

Discussion: Subgenus Pallasiomys. Reviewed by Corbet (1978 c) and Pavlinov et al. (1990). Regional studies cover populations in Morocco (Aulagnier and Thevenot, 1986), Algeria (Kowalski and Rzebik-Kowalska, 1991), Libya (Ranck, 1968, as caudatus), Egypt (Osborn and Helmy, 1980), Jordan (Qumsiyeh, 1996), Arabian Penninsula (Harrison and Bates, 1991), Iran (Lay, 1967; Morshed and Patton, 2002), Afghanistan (Hassinger, 1973), the Pribalkhashye region of S Kazakhstan (Burdelov et al., 1993, as erythrourus), Russia (Gromov and Erbajeva, 1995), and the Xinjiang Province of W China (Ma et al., 1987; Wang, 2003). Comparative craniometric analyses between Moroccan samples of M. libycus and M. shawi obtained in sympatry were reported by Zaime and Pascal (1988). Morphological and karyotypic contrasts between these same two species as well as laboratory hybridization experiments, were recorded by Lay and Nadler (1969). In North Africa, M. libycus inhabits the Sahara desert, but does extend to the Mediterranean in Morocco, Algeria, and Libya where it overlaps the distribution of M. shawi, which is primarily Mediterranean littoral (Lay and Nadler, 1969; Zaime and Pascal, 1988). Intrapopulation p

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae

distribution

Distribution: North Africa from Western Sahara (Rio de Oro) and Morocco to Egypt, through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, and east through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and S Kazakhstan to W China (Xinjiang). A record from SE Anatolia has not been confirmed (Kryštufek and Vohralík, 2001).

Order Rodentia - Family Muridae