Stylodipus telum
Creators: name: Don E. Wilson
name: Russell A. Mittermeier
name: Thomas E. Lacher, Jr
Publisher: name: Lynx Edicions
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Rodentia
Dipodidae
Stylodipus
Stylodipus telum

description: 28.
Thick-tailed Three-toed Jerboa
Stylodipus telum
French: Gerboise javeline / German: Westliche Dickschwanzspringmaus / Spanish: Jerbo tridactilo de cola gruesa
Other common names: Thick-tail Jerboa
Taxonomy. Dipus telum Lichtenstein, 1823,
NE shore of Aral Sea, Kyzylorda Region, Kazakhstan.
Widely used subspecific names caucasicus and zaisanicus have been changed for gender agreement. Based on DNA analysis, J. Pisano and colleagues in 2015 demonstrated that S. telum and S. sungorus were sister species. Six subspecies recognized.
Subspecies and Distribution.
S.t.telumLichtenstein,1823—Kazakhstan(Aktobe,Atyrau,WEastKazakhstan,Karaganda,SKostanay,NKyzylorda,andWestKazakhstanregions).
S.t.amankaragaiSelevin,1934—NKazakhstan(NKostanayRegion).
S.t.birulaeVinogradov,1937—EKazakhstan(ELakeZaysanBasin)andNWChina(NWXinjiang).
S.t.falzferiniBrauner,1913—SUkraine(leftbankoflowerDnieperRiverValleyinMikolaivandKhersonregions).
S.t.nastjukoviShenbrot,1991—SKazakhstan(Mangystau,SKyzylorda,Jambyl,andSAlmatyregions),NWUzbekistan(Karakalpakstan),andW&NTurkmenistan(BalkhanandDasoguzregions).
S. t. turovi Heptner, 1934 — S European Russia (middle Don Valley in Volgograd and Rostov regions E & S to the right bank of Volga in Astrakhan, Kalmykia, N S.t., and Dagestan).
Descriptive notes. Head-body 110-130 mm, tail 130-170 mm, ear 15-20 mm, hindfoot 46-55 mm; weight 45-73 g. There is no significant secondary sexual dimorphism. Head and dorsum vary geographically from light sandy gray to dark grayish brown, always with a touch of reddish brown; sides and ventral pelage are pure white; white patch behind ear is absent or poorly expressed; and tail is fatty in adults, with slightly flattened grayish brown terminal tuft not forming a banner. Toes of hindfeet are covered from below with brushes of relatively short soft hairs; external hairs of brushes are white, and internal hairs are black or dark brown. Front surfaces of incisors are white. P'is absent. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 58 and FN = 94.
Habitat. In western and northern peripheries of the distribution, stabilized sands in steppe zone; in central part of distribution, sandy-loam soils in semi-desert and desert zones; in southern part of distribution, clay soils in desert zone; and in eastern part of distribution, coarse-gravelhill slopes in semi-desert zone.
Food and Feeding. Diet of the Thick-tailed Three-toed Jerboa contains about equal amounts of seeds and green plant material; insects are rarely eaten. Seeds dominated diets in autumn and green plant parts in spring.
Breeding. Breeding of the Thick-tailed Three-toed Jerboa occurs in April-June, with one peak in April-May. Litters have 2-8 young (average range 4-4-5-2). Overwintering females produce one litter per year. Individuals are sexually mature at 10-11 months of age, after overwintering. Gestation has been estimated at 19-20 or 35 days. Young nurse for c.45 days.
Activity patterns. The Thick-tailed Three-toed Jerboa is crepuscular and nocturnal. Aboveground activity starts 60-90 minutes before sunsetin spring and 30-60 minutes after sunset in summer and autumn. Summeractivity ends several minutes before sunrise; autumn activity ends after midnight. Summer activity has two peaks, one near the end of the first one-half of the night and the other about one hour before sunrise; level of midnight activity is low. Hibernation lasts 4-5 months from end of October to March/April.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. Average home ranges of Thicktailed Three-toed Jerboas are 0-27-0-28 ha for males and 0-23 ha for females. Home ranges of females are isolated; home ranges of males widely overlap home rangesoffemales but only marginally with other males. Interactions of individuals in the wild are mainly amicable or neutral, and two individuals can forage side by side. When young individualsfirst exit their mother’s burrow and for some days after, they move together connected like a “train”: the first young holds its mother’s tail at the base, the second young holds the tail of the first, and so on. The same orderis retained when returning to the mother’s burrow. Burrows have one main entrance, 1-3 emergency entrances, one nest chamber 12-15 cm in diameter at depths of 80-130 cm, and 1-3 additional chambers 9-10 cm in diameter; and total lengths of tunnels are 130-530 cm, usually 150-200 cm. Main entrance usually is closed with soil plug. Depths of wintering burrows are 100-140 cm. Night shelter burrows are simple, with one tunnel 30-300 cm long, passing from surface to depths of 40-80 cm. One individual has 3-12 shelter burrows (usually 4-8) in its home range.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List.
Bibliography. Pisano et al. (2015), Shenbrot et al. (2008), Sokolov et al. (1996), Zhang Yongzu etal. (1997).
description: Published as part of Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier & Thomas E. Lacher, Jr, 2017, Dipodidae, pp. 81-100 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 7 Rodents II, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on page 97, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6591722