RODENTS OF LIBYA 221 



Key to the Jerboas of Libya 



1. Ears usually more than 40 mm; four toes on hind foot; rudimentary premolar 



present in upper jaw Allactaga tetradactyla 



Ears usually less than 40 mm; three toes on hind foot; rudimentary premolar 

 lacking in upper jaw 2 



2. Body size large, hind foot greater than 70 mm; baculum with pair of curved 



terminal spines Jaculus orientalis 



Body size small, hind foot less than 70 mm; baculum lacking pair of terminal 

 spines 3 



3. Dorsal color dark; two foramina on angular process of mandible; sole of hind 



foot and metatarsal area suffused with brownish hairs J. deserti 



Dorsal color pale; a single foramen on angular process of mandible; sole of 

 hind foot and metatarsal area white or buff and lacking suffusion of brownish 

 hairs J. jaculus 



Jaculus deserti (Loche) 



Dipus deserti Loche, Explor. Alger. 100, 1867 (Ouargla district, northern Al- 

 gerian Sahara). 



Jaculus jaculus deserti Ellerman, J. R., and T. C. S. Morrison-Scott, Checklist 

 of Palaearctic and Indian Mammals, 1758-1946. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), 

 p. 539, 1951. 



General distribution of species. Arabia, Iraq, Israel, Sinai, 

 Egypt, Libya, and Algeria. 



Distribution in Egypt. Sinai, Eastern Desert, and coastal environs 

 west of the Nile. 



Distribution of the subspecies in Egypt. 



Jaculus deserti schluteri (Nehring). Sinai: St. Catherine's Monastery 

 Area; Wadi Raha; Feiran Oasis; Eastern desert governorate: 

 Cairo-Suez Road; Cairo Area; Gebel el Ahmar; Wadi Ghuweibba; 

 beginning of Wadi el Asyuti; Digla, near Cairo; Ain Sukhna. 



Distribution in Libya. Coastal areas of the Gulf of Sirte, the 

 northeastern Libyan coast, and the great hamadas of central Tripoli- 

 tania and western Cyrenaica. 



Distribution of the subspecies in Libya. 



Jaculus deserti favillus. Cyrenaica and Tripolitania: Littoral 

 deserts near the Gulf of Sirte and northern Cyrenaican coast. 



Jaculus deserti Juscipes. Tripolitania: Interior and coastal hamadas. 



Jaculus deserti rarus. Cyrenaica: Extreme southeastern Cyrenaica. 



Jaculus deserti vastus. Cyrenaica: Interior hamadas of central- 

 western Cyrenaica and the Gebel el Harug el Asued. 



Distribution in Algeria. Northern Sahara, including the High 

 Plateaus and the Saharan Atlas. 



Distribution of the subspecies in Algeria. 



Jaculus deserti deserti. Vicinity of Ouargla between the Grand 

 Erg Oriental and the Grand Erg Occidental, and Biskra in the 

 Saharan Atlas. 



