[The lice of the gerbils of Tajikistan]

2606 gerbils of four species from Tajikistan were examined. On them there were found over 14 thousand sucking lice of 10 species, four of which are typical to gerbils. Hoplopleura merionidis Ferris is a Mongolian-Turkestan species, which in Central Asia parasitizes Meriones meridianus Pallas and M. unguiculatus Milne-Edw. and in Middle Asia--M. meridianus and M. erythrourus Gray, seldom M. tamariscinus Pallas. Polyplax chinensis Ferris, a parasite of M. meridianus, is a Mongolian-Turkestan species the distribution of which, apparently, corresponds to that of the host. P. paradoxa Johnson, a parasite of M. erythrourus, is an Afro-Asiatic species. P. opimi Sosnina, a parasite of Rhombomys opimus Lichtenstein, is apparently an Asiatic species, the distribution of which is closely associated with the host's distribution area.