RODENTS OF LIBYA 



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Figure 2. — I, Mediterranean Faunal Area; IA, Coastal Plain Province; IB, Cyrenaican 

 Plateau Province; II, Saharan Steppe Faunal Area; IIA, Transitional Desert Province; 

 IIB, Tripolitanian Gebel Province; III, Saharan Desert Faunal Area; IIIA, Cyrenaican 

 Desert Province; III B, Fezzanese Desert Province. 



Although the Mediterranean littoral and steppe regions of Libya 

 cover a much smaller area than the Saharan portion, they are more 

 varied, both climatically and physiographically. As a consequence, 

 these northern portions of Libya support a more varied rodent fauna 

 and are thus divisible into a greater number of faunal provinces. 



Portions of these faunal provinces, and in some cases, the entire 

 province, possess rodents which demonstrate a high degree of en- 

 demism; these areas act as centers of differentiation for several kinds 

 of rodents. Genetic fixation among populations of Libyan rodents 

 lias arisen either through long periods of spatial (geographic) isolation 

 or as a more local response to variations in the character of the climate, 

 soil, and plant cover. 



Mediterranean Faunal Area 



The Mediterranean Faunal Area comprises all the coastal areas of 

 Libya, including the Cyrenaican Plateau. This faunal area is composed 

 of the rather discrete Coastal Plain Province and the Cyrenaican 



