Fresno Kangaroo Rat

Open encyclopedia reference

The Fresno kangaroo rat or San Joaquin kangaroo rat (Dipodomys nitratoides) is a species of rodent in the family Heteromyidae. It is endemic to areas within and near the San Joaquin Valley of California in the United States. Habitat destruction due to agricultural development and urbanization has put this species at risk, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as "vulnerable".

There are three subspecies of D. nitratoides:

D. n. exilis (Merriam, 1894) (Fresno subspecies),

D. n. nitratoides (Merriam, 1894) (Tipton subspecies),

D. n. brevinasus (Grinnell, 1920) (short-nose subspecies).

Wikipedia contributors, Fresno kangaroo rat; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:16:31.105712+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Dipodomys nitratoides Merriam, 1894

Name authority

Merriam, 1894

Common name

Fresno Kangaroo Rat

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Rodentia

Family

Heteromyidae

Genus

Dipodomys

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. suborderCastorimorpha A. E. Wood, 1955
13. familyHeteromyidae Gray, 1868
14. subfamilyDipodomyinae Gervais, 1853
15. genusDipodomys Gray, 1841
16. speciesDipodomys nitratoides Merriam, 1894

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Dipodomys. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 52 records assigned to Heteromyidae.

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=180243 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:36PMZ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.