Meriones (Parameriones) rex Yerbury and Thomas 1895

Meriones (Parameriones) rex Yerbury and Thomas 1895, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1895: 552.

Type Locality: Yemen, Lahej, near Aden.

Vernacular Names: King Jird.

Synonyms: Meriones (Parameriones) buryi Thomas 1902; Meriones (Parameriones) philbyi (Morrison-Scott 1939) .

Distribution: Yemen highlands in SW Arabian Peninsula, from Mecca in Saudi Arabia to near Aden in Yemen (see Al-Jumaily [1998] and Harrison and Bates [1991:289]).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Parameriones, according to Nadler and Lay (1967) and Harrison and Bates (1991), but not allocated to a subgenus by Pavlinov et al. (1990), who reviewed the species. A distinctive jird that "... has evolved in the special and peculiar environment of the Yemen highlands..." (Harrison and Bates, 1991:291). Karyotype (2n = 38, FN = 74) documented by Al-Saleh and Khan (1987).