Botta's gerbil

Botta's gerbil (Dipodillus bottai) is a species of gerbil endemic to Sudan and possibly northern Kenya. The French zoologist and herpetologist Fernand Lataste first described it in 1882 under the name Gerbillus bottai. It is known from only a few specimens taken at four or five localities in a small area between the White Nile and the Blue Nile south of Khartoum, with some possible sightings in northern Kenya, and the habitat recorded there is fields of vegetables and cereals. It may form part of a species complex with the Khartoum gerbil, Harwood's gerbil and Waters's gerbil, although Harwood's gerbil has a separate range in Kenya about 1,200 km to the south and may deserve full species status after further study. The animal is small, with sandy-brown upper parts that have a blackish sheen along the midline, pure white underparts and limbs, and a long, slightly two-coloured tail whose tip bears a small tuft of hairs. The IUCN listed it as Least Concern in 1996 and as Data Deficient from 2004, and little else is known about it, including its population and threats.