Meriones (Pallasiomys) chengi Wang 1964

Meriones (Pallasiomys) chengi Wang 1964, Acta Zootaxon. Sinica, 1: 9.

Type Locality: China, N Xinjiang (Sinkiang), Da-Ho-Yien, Turfan.

Vernacular Names: Cheng's Jird.

Distribution: Recorded from several localities in a small area of N Xinjiang (see Wang, 2003, and Zhang et al., 1997).

Conservation: IUCN – Critically Endangered.

Discussion: Subgenus Pallasiomys . Wang (1964) considered this species, based on a series of adult and immature specimens, to be most closely related to M. meridianus, which also occurs in Xinjiang Province (Ma et al., 1987). Pavlinov et al. (1990, 1995 a) questionably included chengi in the synonymy of M. meridianus . The relationship of chengi to the latter species needs to be assessed by revision of Meriones, especially the M. meridianus complex.