| Meriones Temporal range: Early Pleistocene – Recent
| |
|---|---|
&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Gerbil.jpg)
| |
| Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Subtribe: | Gerbillina |
| Genus: | Meriones Illiger, 1811 |
| Type species | |
| Mus tamariscinus[1] | |
| Subgenera | |
Meriones is a rodent genus that includes the gerbil most commonly kept as a pet, Meriones unguiculatus. The genus contains most animals referred to as jirds, but members of the genera Sekeetamys, Brachiones, and sometimes Pachyuromys are also known as jirds. The distribution of Meriones ranges from northern Africa to Mongolia. Meriones jirds tend to inhabit arid regions including clay desert, sandy desert, and steppe, but are also in slightly wetter regions, and are an agricultural pest.
The genus was named by Illiger in 1811, deriving from the Greek word μηρος (femur).[2] However the name is shared with Greek warrior Meriones in Homer's Iliad which has brought confusion to the meaning of the scientific names, specially for the popular pet Mongolian gerbil.[3][4]
- ^ Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- ^ Biodiversity Heritage Library Prodromus systematis mammalium et avium additis terminis zoographicis utriusque classis, eorumque versione germanica, Illiger 1811 (PDF)
- ^ Google Books My Pet Hamster and Gerbils, LeeAnne Engfer 1997
- ^ The Guardian Saturday 21 June 2003 In from the cold