Orientallactaga bullata G. M. Allen 1925
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
Orientallactaga
Orientallactaga bullata

description: 13.
Gobi Jerboa
Orientallactaga bullata
French: Gerboise du Gobi / German: Gobi-Pferdespringer / Spanish: Jerbo del Gobi
Taxonomy. Allactaga bullata G. M. Allen, 1925,
Tsagan Nor, Ovorhangay, Mongolia.
Phylogenetically, O. bullata is the sister species of O. sibirica. Monotypic.
Distribution. NW & S Mongolia and N China (extreme E Xinjiang, N Gansu, W Inner Mongolia [= Nei Mongol], and Ningxia).
Descriptive notes. Head-body 125-150 mm, tail 155-195 mm, ear 29-37 mm, hindfoot 58-68 mm; weight 70-108 g.
Thereis no significant secondary sexual dimorphism. Condylo-basal lengths of skulls are 30-33-2 mm, zygomatic breadths are 21.9-24-6 mm, and maxillary tooth row lengths are 6-2-7 mm. Head and dorsum are buffy gray; sides and ventral pelage are pure white; tail banner is wide and well flattened, tri-colored, with white basal ring, long black subterminal field, and short white terminal tuft; and ventral side of black subterminalfield is dissected along tail rod by wide white stripe. Toes of hindfeet are covered from below with brushes of long soft hairs, brown inside and whitish outside; conic calluses at bases of toes are large butrelatively low, with wide bases. Auditory bullae are significantly inflated. Mastoid cavity is extremely small and not subdivided into sections; tympanic cavity is large. Front surfaces of incisors are white; incisors are weakly deflected forward. P' is relatively large and about equal in diameter to M”. Molarsare medium-crowned, with terraced masticatory surfaces; crown heights of unworn molars are 100-130% of their lengths. Glans penis is egg-shaped,slightly compressed in dorso-ventral direction, subdivided by deep longitudinal dorsal fold into two lateral lobes; surfaces of lobes are covered by single-vertex, backward-directed aciculae significantly increasing in size in backward direction. Os penis (baculum) is absent. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 48 and FN = 96.
Habitat. Semi-deserts and deserts, with associations of Allium (Amaryllidaceae) -Stipa (Poaceae)— Artemisia (Asteraceae) on rocky-gravel soils in middle and lower parts of foothill belts.
Food and Feeding. The Gobi Jerboa is omnivorous, with a tendency toward folivory. Green plant parts comprise 36% of the diet, underground plant parts 30%, insects 19%, and seeds 15%.
Breeding. Gobi Jerboas breed in June-August. Litters have 2-5 young (average 3).
Activity patterns. The Gobi Jerboa is nocturnal. Aboveground activity usually starts 30-40 minutes after sunset and ends one hour before sunrise. Peaks in activity were observed right after sunset and one hour before sunrise.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. Home ranges are 0-8-1-1 ha for males and 0-3-0-8 ha for females. Home ranges of females are isolated; home ranges of males widely overlap with those of females but only partially with other males. Summer burrows usually consist of main tunnel, starting from main entrance at the ground’s surface and sloping down with 1-2 right-angled turns to the nest chamber. Entrance is usually closed with soil plug. Emergency exits are usually absent. Total length of tunnels is ¢.2 m; nest chamber is 10-12 cm in diameter and ¢.55 cm deep. Night shelter burrows are simple, with one tunnel and open entrance. One individual has 3-5 shelter burrows in its home range. Escape behavior is characterized by running fast and hiding in a shelter burrow. Entrance to a shelter burrow is obvious because of a well-worn path leading to it. In the wild,jerboas are solitary, but during the breeding season, males and females often forage together at night or sleep in one burrow during the day. In captivity, individuals are very aggressive and frequently fight.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List (as Allactaga bullata).
Bibliography. Pisano et al. (2015), Sokolov, Lobachev & Orlov (1998), Wang Sibo & Sun Yuzhen (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 pages 87-88, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6591722