Meriones (Pallasiomys) tristrami Thomas 1892

Meriones (Pallasiomys) tristrami Thomas 1892, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, 9: 148.

Type Locality: Israel, Dead Sea region.

Vernacular Names: Tristram's Jird.

Synonyms: Meriones (Pallasiomys) blackleri Thomas 1903; Meriones (Pallasiomys) bodenheimeri Aharoni 1932; Meriones (Pallasiomys) bogdanovi Heptner 1931; Meriones (Pallasiomys) intraponticus Neuhäuser 1936; Meriones (Pallasiomys) kariateni Aharoni 1932; Meriones (Pallasiomys) kilisensis Yi?it and Çolak 1998; Meriones (Pallasiomys) qatafensis Haas 1951 .

Distribution: From Israel, Lebanon, and W Jordan to Turkey (Kryštufek and Vohralík, 2001; Yi it et al., 1998 a), Syria, N Iraq, NW Iran, and Transcaucasia (see Harrison and Bates, 1991:294).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Pallasiomys . Treated as a subspecies of M. shawi by Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1951). The species was generally reviewed by Corbet (1978 c) and Pavlinov et al. (1990) and regionally reviewed by Harrison and Bates (1991, Arabia), Qumsiyeh (1996) and Mendelssohn and Yom-Tov (1999, Israel and Jordan), Misonne (1957, Syria), Lay (1967, C Asia), Yi it et al. (1998 a, Turkey), and Gromov and Erbajeva (1995, Russia). Chromosomal polymorphism and its significance among Transcaucasian samples were reported by Korobitsyna and Korablev (1980). Populations in Turkey have a stable diploid number (72) but the fundamental number varies between 76 in W Turkey and 82 in samples from the rest of Turkey (a diagnostic traits of M. t. kilisensis is its FN of 78; Yi it and Çolak, 1998). Meriones tristrami has resided in the S Levant, as documented by fossils, since at least 160,000 years before present (see reviews and references cited by Tchernov, 1992, 1994). Saleh and Basuony (1998) claimed the Sinai Peninsula was the westernmost part of M. tristrami ’s range but provided no documentation; we cannot locate records west of Israel.