Great horse jumper
| Great horse jumper | ||||||||||||
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Large horse jumper ( Allactaga major ), specimen in the St. Petersburg Zoological Museum (referred to with the synonym Allactaga jaculus ). |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Allactaga major | ||||||||||||
| ( Kerr , 1792) |
The great horse diver ( Allactaga major ) is a rodent from the genus of the horse diver ( Allactaga ). It occurs in arid regions over large parts of Eurasia from western Ukraine via Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to Siberia and the north of the People's Republic of China .
features
The great horse diver reaches a head-trunk length of 18.0 to 26.3 centimeters with a tail of 23 to 30.8 centimeters in length . The animals have a weight of 280 to 420 grams. The rear foot length is 80 to 98 millimeters, the ear length 50 to 64 millimeters. It is accordingly a very large jerboa with long ears and hind feet. The back fur is soft and silky. It is brown-gray with a cinnamon-red to sand-colored tinge, the sides of the body are lighter and yellowish. A white ribbon runs over the hips. The chin, throat and belly are snow white. The tail has a white tail flag and tip. The hind feet have five well-developed toes that are separated from each other and have comb-like structures.
| 1 | · | 0 | · | 1 | · | 3 | = 18 |
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The skull has a total length of 41 to 47 millimeters. It is broadly built with a strong snout area. Like all species of the genus have the animals in the upper jaw half per one to a incisor tooth formed incisor (incisor) to which a tooth gap ( diastema follows). This is followed by a premolar and three molars . In contrast, the animals do not have a premolar in the lower jaw. In total, the animals have a set of 18 teeth. The upper incisors are clearly prominent.
distribution
The great horse jumper occurs in arid regions over large parts of Eurasia from western Ukraine to Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to Siberia and the north of the People's Republic of China . In the People's Republic of China, it is only found in the north of Xinjiang .
Way of life
The great horse jumper is largely nocturnal, sometimes also crepuscular. It lives in various habitats in dry and sandy desert and semi-desert areas as well as in steppe regions . The species reaches particularly high population densities in open areas with loose soil, and it also needs large and uniform habitats.
Like all species of the genus, it is adapted to rapid locomotion through wide jumps and can reach speeds of 40 to 50 km / h. The species feeds mainly on seeds and flowers. She lives as a loner and digs burrows that can reach up to 2 meters deep. A total of four types of construction are known, which differ in their structure and which can be used in parallel. There is a permanent summer building as well as a building with a nest chamber for the rearing of the young, there are also temporary buildings for day and night stays. The permanent summer building is particularly deep, there are hardly any excavation remains in the entrance area.
The females can have two to three litters each year with three to six young animals.
Systematics
The great horse diver is classified as an independent species within the genus of the horse diver ( Allactaga ), which consists of eleven species. The first scientific description comes from Robert Kerr from 1792, who described the species on the basis of individuals from Kazakhstan between the Caspian Sea and the Irtysh .
Status, threat and protection
The Great Horse Jumper is classified as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). This is justified with the large distribution area and the large global populations of the species. The populations are generally stable and the species usually occurs frequently in its habitat. However, the population numbers are declining, especially in the Ukraine and European Russia, and in some regions, for example in the area around Moscow and Kursk , the species no longer occurs. In the Ukraine the species was regularly found west of the Dnieper until the mid-1920s, but has not been detected there in recent times. Due to the transformation of steppes into agricultural land, the habitat is largely fragmented.
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Andrew T. Smith: Great Jerboa. In: Andrew T. Smith , Yan Xie: A Guide to the Mammals of China. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 2008, ISBN 978-0-691-09984-2 , p. 201.
- ↑ Andrew T. Smith: Family Dipodidae / Subfamily Allactaginae. In: Andrew T. Smith , Yan Xie: A Guide to the Mammals of China. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 2008, ISBN 978-0-691-09984-2 , pp. 198-199.
- ↑ a b c d Allactaga major in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014.3. Posted by: K. Tsytsulina, N. Formozov, I. Zagorodnyuk, B. Sheftel, 2008. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
- ↑ Allactaga major ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. 2 volumes. 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .
literature
- Andrew T. Smith: Great Jerboa. In: Andrew T. Smith , Yan Xie: A Guide to the Mammals of China. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 2008, ISBN 978-0-691-09984-2 , p. 201.
Web links
- Allactaga major inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014.3. Posted by: K. Tsytsulina, N. Formozov, I. Zagorodnyuk, B. Sheftel, 2008. Retrieved August 9, 2015.