The underparts and inside of the limbs are white, and there is a sharp line delineating the boundary between upper and lower parts.

The underside is white and the tip of the tail bears a boss of longer hairs, which are variable in colour, but usually grey.

Its range includes the northwestern region of Africa to the north of the Sahara, from Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, and the Sahel to the south of the desert, from Mauritania to Mali, Niger and Chad.

A separate population is present in the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northwestern India.

The typical habitat of this gerbil is desert and semi-desert where it mostly occupies better vegetated locations such as wadi's, oases, and sand-clay basins and plains with relatively deep soils.