Desmodillus auricularis (Smith 1834)

[Gerbillus] auricularis Smith 1834, South African Quart. J., ser. 2, 2: 160.

Type Locality: South Africa, Little Namaqualand, Kamiesberg (Meester et al., 1986).

Vernacular Names: Cape Short-tailed Gerbil.

Synonyms: Desmodillus brevicaudatus (F. Cuvier 1838); Desmodillus caffer (Wagner 1842); Desmodillus hoeschi Lehmann 1955; Desmodillus pudicus Dollman 1910; Desmodillus robertsi Lundholm 1955; Desmodillus shortridgei Lundholm 1955; Desmodillus wolfi Lehmann 1955 .

Distribution: South Africa (Northern Cape and Western Cape Provs., SW Free State, and Gauteng), S Botswana, Namibia, and SW Angola (see Perrin, 1997 a; Skinner and Smithers, 1990; Crawford-Cabral, 1998, reviewed and mapped the Angolan records).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Taxonomy and geographic distribution summarized by Meester et al. (1986). Ecology and distribution reviewed by Griffin (1990). Chromosomal traits documented by Qumsiyeh (1986) and compared with cytogenetic traits of southern African species of Gerbillurus and Gerbilliscus . Significance of differences in behavior patterns (Dempster et al., 1993) and acoustic repertoire (Dempster and Perrin, 1994) documented between D. auricularis and species of Gerbilliscus .