Narrow-faced kangaroo rat

{{Short description|Species of rodent}}

{{Speciesbox

| name = Narrow-faced kangaroo rat

| image = Dipodomys venustus santiluciae - Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History - DSC06626.JPG

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Cassola, F. |date=2016 |title=Dipodomys venustus |volume=2016 |page=e.T42605A22227166 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T42605A22227166.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}

| genus = Dipodomys

| species = venustus

| authority = (Merriam, 1904)

| synonyms =

}}

The narrow-faced kangaroo rat (Dipodomys venustus) is one of almost 20 species of kangaroo rats, a rodent in the family Heteromyidae.{{MSW3 Heteromyidae | id = 12700126 | pages = 849}} It is endemic to California in the United States.

Like all other heteromyids, the dental formula of Dipodomys venustus is {{DentalFormula|upper=1.0.1.3|lower=1.0.1.3|total=20}}.{{Cite web|url=http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Heteromyidae/|title=Heteromyidae: kangaroo rats, pocket mice, and relatives|last=Myers|first=Phil|date=2001|website=Animal Diversity Web|access-date=20 November 2017}}

Narrow-faced kangaroo rats lives within chaparral, mixed chaparral, and on sandy soils with oak or pine. They are distributed along West-central California in the coastal mountains.Best, Troy L. “Dipodomys Venustus.” Mammalian Species, no. 403, 1992, pp. 1–4. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3504315.Retrieved 3 December 2017. They have been divided into three subspecies:

• Dipodomys venustus venustus (Santa Cruz kangaroo rat),{{cite journal |title=The Kangaroo Rats of California: endemism and conservation of keystone species |author=Goldingay, Ross L., Kelly, Patrick A., Williams, Daniel F. |journal=Pacific Conservation Biology |year=1997 |volume=3 |number=1 |pages=47–60 }}{{cite journal |title=Cranial variation in species and subspecies of kangaroo rats (Dipodomys, Dipodomyinae, Rodentia) according to geometric morphometrics |author=Alhajeri,Bader H. |year=2025 |journal=Integrative Zoology |volume=20 |pages=108–134 }} which inhabit the Santa Cruz Mountains and Mount Hamilton range, the latter a central sub-range of the Diablo Range
• Dipodomys venustus elephantinus (Elephant-eared or big-eared kangaroo rat), which inhabit the Gabilan Range and southern Diablo Range
• Dipodomys venustus sanctiluciae (Santa Lucia kangaroo rat); which inhabit the Santa Lucia Range