Gerbilliscus Thomas 1897

Gerbilliscus Thomas 1897, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1897: 433.

Type Species: Gerbillus boehmi Noack 1887

Species and subspecies: 11 species in 2 subgenera:

Subgenus Gerbilliscus (Gerbilliscus) Thomas 1897

Subgenus Gerbilliscus (Taterona) Wroughton 1917

Species Gerbilliscus (Taterona) afra (Gray 1830)

Species Gerbilliscus (Gerbilliscus) boehmi (Noack 1887)

Species Gerbilliscus (Taterona) brantsii (Smith 1836)

Species Gerbilliscus (Taterona) guineae Thomas 1910

Species Gerbilliscus (Taterona) inclusus Thomas and Wroughton 1908

Species Gerbilliscus (Taterona) kempi Wroughton 1906

Species Gerbilliscus (Taterona) leucogaster (Peters 1852)

Species Gerbilliscus (Taterona) nigricaudus (Peters 1879)

Species Gerbilliscus (Taterona) phillipsi de Winton 1898

Species Gerbilliscus (Taterona) robustus (Cretzschmar 1826)

Species Gerbilliscus (Taterona) validus (Bocage 1890)

Discussion: Tribe Taterillini, Subtribe Taterillina . Usually included as a subgenus of Tatera (Musser and Carleton, 1993, for example). Pavlinov (1981 b, 2001) and Pavlinov et al. (1990) regarded true Tatera to consist only of the Asian species T. indica, initially placed all the African species in subgenera Gerbilliscus and Taterona (Pavlinov, 1981 b), then separated Gerbilliscus as a genus (which included Taterona as a subgenus), and identified Taterillus as its closest relative. Pavlinov’s phylogenetic analysis reflects the distinctive traits associated with auditory structures and occlusal pattern of m1 separating Asian from all African species and we follow his arrangement. African Gerbilliscus is also distinguished from Asian Tatera by humerus morphology (entepicondylar foramen present in Gerbilliscus, absent in Tatera; Bates, 1988) and karyotypes (2n = 36-52 in Gerbilliscus, 2n = 68 for Tatera; Rao et al., 1968; Qumsiyeh and Schlitter, 1991; Yosida, 1981; Yiğit et al., 2001).

Taxonomic revisions of various inclusiveness (when Gerbilliscus was included in Tatera) were provided by Pirlot (1955) and Bates (1985, 1988). Davis (1975 a) reviewed the genus and, aside from C. boehmi, clustered all the species either in an afra group or robusta group. Chromosomal information for some species was reported by Matthey and Petter (1970) and summarized by Qumsiyeh and Schlitter (1991). Chromosomal contrasts among Southern African species of Gerbilliscus, Gerbillurus, and Desmodillus documented by Qumsiyeh (1986). Results of craniometric studies of Angolan Gerbilliscus (as Tatera) were presented by Crawford-Cabral (1988) and Crawford-Cabral and Pacheco (1991). Neal (1982, as Tatera) provided contrasts in reproductive characteristics of G. nigricaudus, G. robustus, and G. validus . Significance of divergence in acoustic repertoire, ultrasonic vocalizations and associated behavior, and overall behavioral patterns among selected species of Gerbilliscus, Gerbillurus, and Desmodillus in different combinations reported by Dempster and Perrin (1991, 1994) and Dempster et al. (1991, 1992, 1993).

Evolutionary history as indicated by fossils (reported as Tatera) extends to early Pliocene and Pleistocene in East and South Africa (Avery, 1998, 2000; Denys, 1987 a, 1989 b, 1990 a; Sabatier, 1982; Wessels, 1998) and Pleistocene in Namibia (Senut et al., 1992). Protatera, from the late Miocene of North Africa and late Miocene-early Pliocene of Spain, is the oldest member of Taterillini in Africa and may be ancestral to Gerbilliscus (Jaeger, 1977 b; see reviews by Denys, 1999, and Wessels, 1998; reported as Tatera).