A new record of Allactaga euphratica from Ilam province, West of Iran

The five-toed Jerboa genus Allactaga includes 12 morphospecies, the majority of which were described in the 19th century. Five morphospecies are native to Iran, including A. elater (Lichtenstein, 1828), A. williamsi Thomas, 1897, A. hotsoni Thomas, 1920, A. firouzi Womochel, 1978, and A. toussi Darvish et al., 2008. However, Shenbrot (2009) determined, by multivariate analysis, that A. firouzi is synonymous with A. hotsoni. Attallah and Harrison (1968) demonstrated that A. euphratica Thomas, 1881, and A. williamsi are conspecific. They reduced A. williamsi to subspecific status under A. euphratica, based on the examination of external and cranial characters. Recent data have shown that A. euphratica and A. williamsi are two distinct species (Colak and Yigit, 1998). The presence of A. euphratica has been reported in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria (Abi-Said, 2004). It is probable that A. euphratica is present in southwestern Iran (KryŠtufek and Vohralik, 2005).