Cape Short-tailed Gerbil

Open encyclopedia reference

The Cape short-eared gerbil (Desmodillus auricularis) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is the only species in the genus Desmodillus. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. Its natural habitats are hot deserts and temperate desert. It is the only gerbil whose tail is shorter than the combined length of its head and body. There are some variation in color, but its white patches at the bases of its ears differentiates it from other species. Diet consists mainly of grass-seeds, and occasionally greenery and insects. It weighs 50g and its total length is 20 cm. It nests in burrows, often with many tunnels. It hoards food inside the burrows or buries it outside nearby.

Wikipedia contributors, Cape short-eared gerbil; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:43:19.411655+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Desmodillus auricularis (A. Smith, 1834)

Name authority

(A. Smith, 1834)

Common name

Cape Short-tailed Gerbil

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Rodentia

Family

Muridae

Genus

Desmodillus

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderRodentia Bowdich, 1821
12. suborderMyomorpha Brandt, 1855
13. superfamilyMuroidea Illiger, 1811
14. familyMuridae Illiger, 1811
15. subfamilyGerbillinae Gray, 1825
16. genusDesmodillus Thomas & Schwann, 1904
17. speciesDesmodillus auricularis (A. Smith, 1834)

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

Browse 672 records assigned to Muridae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=632910 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:352YZ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.