The Balikun jerboa (''Allactaga balikunica'') is a species of
rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...
in the family
Dipodidae
Jerboas (from ar, جربوع ') are hopping desert Rodent, rodents found throughout North Africa and Asia, and are members of the family Dipodidae. They tend to live in hot deserts.
When chased, jerboas can run at up to . Some species are pre ...
. It is found in arid areas of northwestern
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
. It eats green plants, plant roots, seeds, grasshoppers and beetles.
Description
The Balikun jerboa is a typical five-toed jerboa that grows to a head and body length of with a tail of . The dorsal surface is yellowish-greyish-brown, each hair having a grey base, a yellow centre and a brown tip. The rump is darker and the flanks paler. The underparts, forelegs and inner surface of the hind legs are white. The tail is slender with a tuft of blackish hairs at the tip mostly growing sideways. It is similar in appearance to the
Gobi jerboa
The Gobi jerboa (''Allactaga bullata'') is a species of rodent in the family Dipodidae. It is found in China and Mongolia. Its natural habitats are temperate grassland and temperate desert.
The Gobi jerboa was discovered in 1925 by Glover Morri ...
(''Allactaga bullata'') of which it was at one time thought to be a subspecies, but the stripe of colour across the hips is slightly more reddish in colour in that species.
Distribution and habitat
The Balikun jerboa is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the Balikun region of
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
province of China, its range extending into Mongolia where it occurs in the western parts of the