The pallid ground squirrel (''Spermophilus pallidicauda'') is a species of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

in the family

Sciuridae Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...

. It is found in

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

and the adjacent

Nei Mongol Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

autonomous region. A generic revision of the genus was undertaken in 2007 which helped resolve the uncertainty as to whether this species should be considered a subspecies of '' Spermophilus erythrogenys''. A phylogeny based on molecular sequence data determined that ''S. pallidicauda'' was indeed a separate species from ''S. erythrogenys'', and from the other similar species in the genus, ''S. brevicauda'' and ''S. alashanicus''.

Distribution

The pallid ground squirrel is found in

near Lake Khulu-Nur and the Baidarak River and in Ullyn Bulyk, the Mongolian and the Gobi

Altai Mountains The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central Asia, Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob River, Ob have their headwaters. The ...

. The closely related species, '' Spermophilus alashanicus'' from the Alashan Desert and '' Spermophilus brevicauda'', found in eastern Kazakhstan and in Tian Shan mountain range, are

allopatric Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...

in distribution as they are largely separated by geographic boundaries.A Guide to the Mammals of China
/ref> It has been found to hybridise with ''P. alashanicus'' where their ranges do overlap.

Description

This ground squirrel has a strawy-brown colour which takes on a more sandy hue in summer but is still paler than other similar species. The short tail is a whitish-yellow colour with a rust coloured stripe most of the way along the upper side. There is a white streak across the side of the face, white eyelids and a rusty coloured spot under each eye. The underside is generally paler and the length is about twenty centimetres.

Biology

This species is quite common in the grasslands of the Gobi and nearby areas. It is a colonial species and active during the day.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1761465 Spermophilus Mammals described in 1903 Taxa named by Konstantin Satunin