Meriones (Pallasiomys) iranensis, Goodwin, 1939

Goodwin, George G., 1939, Five Newrodents From The Eastern Elburz Moitntains And A New Race Of Hare From Teheran, American Museum Novitates 1050, pp. 1-6 : 3

Meriones (Pallasiomys) iranensis , new species

Iran Gerbil

TYPE.-No. 88888 , Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.; adult d; Dasht, a small village on the headwaters of the Gurgan River, on the south side of the Gurgan Valley ; alt. about 3200 feet; collector, G. G. Goodwin, Nov. 23, 1938 . The type is a skin in fair condition and skull in good condition. Besides the type there is an adult female specimen in spirits with damaged skull from Maravih, Incha district, north of the Gurgan gorge.

GENERAL CHARACTERS.- A medium-sized, slender gerbil with fine, dense, grayish pelage; proximal median area of soles of hind feet naked, sides and terminal half, haired; under parts white with basal portion of hairs dusky; ears, small. Skull, superficially similar to M. erythrourus Gray but smaller, with more inflated bullae and larger teeth.

DESCRIPTION.-Color above pinkish buff, grading to light buff on sides of head and body, overlaid with black-tipped hairs, base of hair deep neutral gray; ears, pinkish buff; postauricular patch, light buff; upperside of tail, cinnamon-buff mixed with black. In the type the hair on the terminal third of the tail is badly worn but in the Maravih specimen the dark hairs on the distal third graduate longer to a black bush pencil; underside of tail, clear cinnamonbuff to tip; fore and hind feet, white, faintly washed withlight buff. Under parts white, base of hairs deep neutral gray except on chin and throat where the hairs are white to roots.

SKULL.-Normal for the Palla8iomys group; smaller than typical M. erythrourus with bullae relatively more swollen, rostrum longer, palatal foramina shorter, ending slightly in front of a line across anterior face of first molars, molariform teeth larger and last molar without indication of a rudimentary transverse ridge. Supra-meataltriangle long and narrow.

MEASUREMENTS.-Dried skin; specimen in spirits in parentheses. Total length, 300 mm. (260); tail vertebrae, 128 (130); hind foot including claws, 35 (33); ear from notch, 14.5 (15.5). Skull: greatest length, 40.5 (40); condylo-incisive length, 36.9; interorbital constriction, 6.6 (6.5); zygomatic breadth, 22; length of nasals, 15.1 (15); alveoli of upper molar series, 6.2 (5.8); palatal foramina, 6.7; bullae, length 16 (15), breadth 10.5 (10.5), posterior border to front of meatus, 13.2 (13.1); suprameatal-triangle, length 5 (4.8), breadth 2.3 (2.2).

REMARKS.- M. iranensis may be distinguished from other described races by the combination of rather small size, soft grayish pelage, partially naked soles, slender feet, white under parts, hairs grayish at base, normal inflation of bullae and narrowsupra-meatal-triangle. Itissmaller, more slender and grayer in color than a specimen of M. erythrourus from the same locality. M. syrius is a larger and more robust race, inhabiting the Syrian and Arabian desert areas; M. vinogradovi from Aserbeidschan, Persia, about equals iranensis in size and color but in this species the solesofthefeetarecompletelyhaired. M. charon from the Karun Desert region, Persia, is a smaller race related to M. longifrons and needs no comparison with the present species, M. e. maxeratis Heptner from the Chandyr River, Kopet Dag Transcaspian, is a small race of the erythrourus group, smaller than M. iranensis , with a shorter foot, smaller skull and less inflated bullae.

The Iran gerbil is an inhabitant of the high plateau desert country of northeastern Iran. It is probably diurnal and not particularly abundant.