Use of electrophoretic patterns of hemoglobin for identification of israeli gerbils (Genus gerbillus; rodentia: Gerbillinae)

Identification of sibling species can be facilitated by the study of electrophoretic patterns of specific body proteins. When blood proteins are used forthis purpose the studied animals do not have to be sacrificed. In the presentwork electrophoresis of hemoglobin was performed on blood drawn from 180individuals, representing all six species of the rodent genus Gerbil/us known tooccur in Israel and Sinai. Some of these species cannot be identified withcertainty when only external characters are considered. All species were polymorphicfor their hemoglobin patterns, but there was no overlap between themorphs of the different species.