The Asian garden dormouse or large-eared garden dormouse, (''Eliomys melanurus'') is a species of rodent in the family Gliridae. It is found in Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia,

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and Turkey. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, subtropical or tropical dry

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, rocky areas and gardens. It is active throughout the year but can enter a state of torpor. Diet consists mainly of insects, snails,

centipede Centipedes (from New Latin , "hundred", and Latin , " foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', lip, and New Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, an ...

s and

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos ar ...

s but as an

omnivore An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutr ...

, it will also eat plant matter.Aulagnier S.; P. Haffner, A. J. Mitchell-Jones, F. Moutou & J. Zima (2009) ''Mammals of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East'', A&C Black, London. It is a common species and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of " least concern".

Taxonomy

This species was first described in 1840 by the German zoologist Johann Andreas Wagner who placed it in the genus ''

Myoxus The European edible dormouse or European fat dormouse (''Glis glis'') is a large dormouse and one of only two living species in the genus ''Glis'', found in most of Europe and parts of western Asia. Its name comes from the Romans, who ate them as ...

''. It was later transferred to '' Eliomys''. Originally thought to extend as far west as Morocco, it was considered to be a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of '' Eliomys quercinus'', the garden dormouse. More recently ''E. melanurus sensu lato'' has been split, western populations in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia being assigned to ''E quercinus'', while eastern populations were assigned to ''E. melanurus'', distributed across Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

. Since then, the North African population of ''E. quercinus'' has been recognised as a separate species, '' Eliomys munbyanus'', the Maghreb garden dormouse.

Description

The Asian garden dormouse is a moderate-sized species with a head-and-body length of and a tail of . The dorsal fur is soft, and sometimes woolly, yellowish-grey, yellowish-brown or reddish-brown. The underparts and hind feet are white or cream, sometimes tinged with grey, and clearly delineated from the dorsal pelage. The head is paler at the muzzle but otherwise matches the dorsal colouring. The cheeks are cream, and a dark diagonal streak passes through the large eyes. The ears are large and oval, and behind them are several, often inconspicuous, pale patches. The tail has short hairs near the base and longer hairs near the tip; at its root, both the upper and lower surfaces match the dorsal colouring, and the rest of the tail is black, sometimes with a little white at the tip.

Distribution and habitat

The Asian garden dormouse occurs in North Africa and the Near East. Its range extends from northern Libya and Egypt to Iraq,

, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and southern Turkey. Suitable habitat includes coastal dunes, sandy plateaus, arid steppes, shrubland, subtropical dry woodland, mountainsides, escarpments, rocky areas and limestone cliffs. Sometimes individuals are found in gardens, occasionally in houses and one was once found in a

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...

tent. It occurs from near sea level up to about , even living above the snowline in winter.

Ecology

This dormouse is mainly nocturnal, and forages both on the ground and in trees. It feeds on insects and other invertebrates, as well as small vertebrates. It is active throughout the year, but may at times enter a state of torpor, which may last for several days; the basal metabolic rate is relatively low, and the torpor helps the animal to conserve energy. Little is known of its social behaviour, but animals caught from the wild are said to be very aggressive. Reproduction occurs in spring, the gestation period is 22 days and litters of about three young have been recorded. The skeletal remains of this dormouse have been found in the regurgitated pellets of

barn owl The barn owl (''Tyto alba'') is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of birds, being found almost everywhere except for the polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalaya ...

s and long-eared owls.

Status

The Asian garden dormouse has a wide range and is a common species. No particular threats have been identified, so the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of " least concern".

References

Bibliography

*Holden, M. E.. 2005. Family Gliridae. pp. 819–841 ''in'' Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. {{Taxonbar, from=Q1751843 Eliomys Rodents of North Africa Rodents of Asia Mammals of Western Asia Mammals of Turkey Mammals of the Arabian Peninsula Mammals described in 1840 Taxa named by Johann Andreas Wagner Taxonomy articles created by Polbot