Desert Dormouse

desert dormouse, (Selevinia betpakdalaensis), a rarely seen or captured small rodent of Central Asia. Weighing less than 28 grams (1 ounce), the desert dormouse has a stout rounded body 8 to 10 cm (3.1 to 3.9 inches) long and a slightly shorter fine-haired tail of 6 to 8 cm. Its gray fur is long, soft, and dense, and its underside is white. The molt of this species is unique in that patches of both skin and hair are sloughed off and replaced by a dense new growth. Other rodents replace their hair during the molt but not the skin. The upper incisor teeth are large, but the cheek teeth are very small, barely jutting above the gums.

The desert dormouse is an endangered species that lives only in the clay and sandy deserts surrounding Lake Balkhash in southeastern Kazakhstan. The first scientific record of the species came from the Betpaqdala Desert west of the lake (hence the latter portion of the scientific name, betpakdalaensis). The species is patchily distributed among thickets of boyalych saltbush (Salsola laricifolia) and white wormwood (Artemisia maritime) growing on salty clay soils.

The desert dormouse has been observed during the day but is active primarily during the night, when temperatures are cooler. It ambles along unless disturbed, at which time it proceeds with slow, short leaps; it also climbs well. Because the ecology of wild populations has not been studied, most information about the animal’s habits comes from captive individuals. One individual dug a burrow only at low temperatures; at high temperatures it sheltered beneath a leaf or rock. Another animal became dormant at temperatures below 5 °C (41 °F). Dormancy may explain the animal’s apparent scarcity during cold periods. Spiders and insects were eaten in captivity, and leaves of boyalych shrubs have been found in the stomachs of specimens caught in the wild. Females have been reported to contain six or eight embryos.

The researchers who originally described the species in 1939 named it Selevin’s mouse, and they grouped it in the mouse and rat family, Muridae, of the order Rodentia. Later, the same researchers proposed classifying it as the sole member of its own family, allied with dormice (family Myoxidae). By 1947 detailed study had demonstrated that the desert dormouse was indeed a specialized species of dormouse. Thus, it is now included with three other dormouse genera in a subfamily (Leithiinae) of Myoxidae. A fossil from the Early Pliocene Epoch (5.3 million to 3.6 million years ago) in Poland represents an extinct species (genus Proselevinia) closely related to the living desert dormouse.