Allactodipus bobrinskii

Geographic Range

Allactodipus bobrinskii (Bobrinski's jerboa) can be found in the Palearctic region throughout northern and western areas of Turkmenistan and central and western areas of Uzbekistan. Its distribution more specifically includes the Karakumy and Kyzylkum deserts.

• Biogeographic Regions
• palearctic palearctic
  • native native

Habitat

Allactodipus bobrinskii mainly inhabits the Kyzylkum and Karakum deserts. The Kyzylkum desert is made up of red sand while the Karakum desert is mostly salt marsh sands. Both deserts have areas of sparse vegetation and scrub. Only inhabiting loamy and hard gravel plains in these deserts, A. bobrinskii avoids fully sandy regions. These jerboas construct burrows on a slightly raised mound that is free from vegetation. A key environmental factor for this species is annual vegetation with various aspects of the local vegetation influencing species abundance.

• Habitat Regions
• temperate temperate
• terrestrial terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• desert or dune desert or dune

Physical Description

Bobrinski's jerboas are saltatorial with hind limbs that are elongated to 58 mm; they use their excellent jumping abilities as an anti-predator defense. While the length of a jump has not been recorded for Bobrinski's jerboas, related jerboas have been documented to jump up to 3 meters in one bound. The hind feet of Bobrinski's jerboas have three middle toes that are densely covered in a brush of stiff hairs. These stiff hairs provide some traction against the sand. Body length has been reported to be 120 mm for males and 113 mm for females with the average Bobrinski's jerboa weighing 65 grams. These jerboas have long, slender tails (165 to 170 mm) with a tuft on the end; they use their tail for balance when jumping or to prop themselves up when standing. This species has small ears (22 to 23 mm) that measure about one fifth of the body length. They have a silky coat with upper parts composed of a yellow straw colored hair that is markedly darkened in color by dark hair tips that are grey-brown. They have pure white underparts and hip patches, and the front of the head is slightly paler in color than the back. They also have protruding upper incisors and greatly inflated auditory bullae.

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic endothermic
• heterothermic heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

Reproduction

The mating system of A. bobrinskii is not currently known. The mating systems of other species of jerboas is also poorly documented and needs further research. This poor documentation is probably the result of their shyness.

Allactodipus bobrinskii has two observed breeding seasons: April to June and September to October. These jerboas start breeding soon after emergence from hibernation. They usually breed twice in a breeding season, which equates to about 10 offspring per breeding season. Their gestation period is on average 30 days. The weaning period of A. bobrinskii offspring is not known, but close relatives, Allactaga elater and Allactaga major , have offspring nursed and cared for up until 30 to 45 days old. The age at sexual maturity is also unknown for this species, but A. elater reaches sexual maturity at 142 days, both in males and females.

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous iteroparous
• seasonal breeding seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual sexual
• viviparous viviparous

No data on parental investment have been reported for A. bobrinskii , but in a close relative, Allactaga euphratica , young receive care from their mother until they reach independence. Many species in the closely related genus g. Allactaga provide food and protection in the burrow for 1 to 1.5 months. In these species, once the offspring have reached independence, there is no parental involvement. Parental care is provided by females.

• Parental Investment
• altricial altricial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female

Lifespan/Longevity

There is no information on the longevity of A. bobrinskii in either the wild or captivity. In the wild, other species of jerboas typically live for up to 2 to 3 years of age. A close relative, A. euphratica , lived 4 years and 2 months in captivity.

Behavior

Bobrinski's jerboas are nocturnal rodents, foraging only at night. They are shy and seldom seen. These jerboas hibernate during inclement weather, which might contribute to the low number of sightings. Hibernation is shallow with activity occurring during partial thaws. They are burrowing rodents, with separate types of burrows for both night/day and summer/winter. Some of the burrows are permanent, while others are temporary and much shallower in depth. Although burrow occupation has not been examined in A. bobrinskii , in other jerboas, a single animal typically inhabits a burrow. Allactodipus bobrinskii also builds a separate burrow for nesting. This species is saltatorial and can jump quickly and long distances, using its long hindlimbs. It uses this as an anti-predator adaptation for escape.

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• saltatorial saltatorial
• nocturnal nocturnal
• motile motile
• sedentary sedentary
• hibernation hibernation
• solitary solitary

Home Range

Home range sizes in Bobrinski's jerboas is unknown.

Communication and Perception

Bobrinski's jerboas are nocturnal and have large eyes to perceive their environment in low light. They also have very large auditory bullae which pick up low sounds extremely well. They tap theirs foot inside of the burrow, producing a low drumming noise, which may be a form of communication. In general, jerboas have a good sense of smell, vision and hearing.

• Communication Channels
• visual visual
• acoustic acoustic
• chemical chemical

• Perception Channels
• visual visual
• tactile tactile
• acoustic acoustic
• chemical chemical

Food Habits

Bobrinski's jerboas are omnivorous, eating mostly seeds, green parts of plants, and insects. In most seasons, they forage about equally on vegetation and insects. In the spring insects become a much more significant part of the diet. They can use the hairs on their forelimbs to sift through the sand for food. Bobrinski's jerboas do not need to drink water; instead they generate metabolic water from their food.

• Primary Diet
• omnivore omnivore

• Animal Foods
• insects

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• seeds, grains, and nuts

Predation

Bobrinski's jerboas are relatively defenseless and will therefore use their large hind limbs and fast jumping and running abilites as an anti-predatory strategy for escape. Another defense they use is avoiding visual detection by predators. This species is nocturnal, which causes it to be safe from diurnal predators. It also has coloration that mimmicks the color of the sand in its environment; this also helps avoid predators' sight. There is no literature on the predators of A. bobrinskii , but because it is nocturnal, potential predators could include snakes and small or medium-sized nocturnal mammals. Some small-medium nocturnal mammals that inhabit A. bobrinskii areas are Felis margarita (sand cats) and Vulpes corsac (Corsac foxes).

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic cryptic

Ecosystem Roles

Because its diet includes seeds, A. bobrinskii probably disperses seeds in its environment. Also, it is probably an important prey item for small-medium sized animals, such as Felis margarita and Vulpes corsac in this arid habitat.

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Although A. bobrinskii does not directly impact humans, it still carries out an important role in keeping the desert ecosystem functioning and healthy. A close relative, A. elater , is used by humans for its fur to make clothing and other items.

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

Because its diet includes seeds and green portions of plants, A. bobrinskii is a potential crop pest for humans. Close relatives have been known to destroy a whole crop overnight. Also, A. elater can carry and transmit disease, so this could be a potential problem too. However, since it lives in such an arid environment, A. bobrinskii is unlikely to have a significant influence on humans.

• Negative Impacts
• crop pest

Conservation Status

A. bobrinskii is listed on the IUCN Red List as of least concern, suggesting that it does not need special attention for the time being.

Additional Links

Encyclopedia of Life

Contributors

Jaime Andrzejewski (author), Michigan State University, Barbara Lundrigan (editor, instructor), Michigan State University, Tanya Dewey (editor), Animal Diversity Web.

References

Anderson, S., J. Jones, Jr.. 1967. Recent Mammals of the World . New York: The Ronald Press Company.

Closey, C. 2001. "Allactaga elater" (On-line). Animal Diversity Web. Accessed March 27, 2009 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Allactaga_elater.html .

Hodgson, S. 2004. "Allactaga euphratica" (On-line). Animal Diversity Web. Accessed March 27, 2009 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Allactaga_euphratica.html .

Kolesnikov, I. 1937. A New Genus and Species of Jerboa Allactodipus bobrinskii (Rodentia, Dipodidae) from the Kzyl-kumy desert, Middle Asia.. Byulletin Sredne Aziatskago Gosudarstvennago Universiteta , 22/29: 255.

Macdonald, D. 2001. The Encyclopedia of Mammals . Oxfordshire, United Kingdom: Barnes & Noble Inc..

Nowak, R. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World . Baltimore, Maryland: John Hopkins University Press.

Shenbrot, G., K. Rogovin. 1995. Temporal variation in spatial organization of a rodent community in the southwestern Kyzylkum desert (Middle Asia). Ecography , 18: 370-383.

Tsytsulina, K. 2008. "IUCN 2008 Red List- Allactodipus bobrinskii" (On-line). 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Accessed March 04, 2009 at http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/861 .

Wilson, D., D. Reeder. 2005. Mammal Species of the World . Baltimore, Maryland: The John Hopkins University Press.