This ground squirrel has gray-russet fur and a pale tail tip. It lives in dry grasslands and plains in northeastern China, eastern Mongolia, and Russia's Transbaikalia region, among other records.
The fur is gray-russet, the tail tip is light yellow, and a blackish-brown band lies just before the tip.
It is active by day and lives in dense colonies in simple burrows with two entrances. Hibernation from late autumn into early spring has been reported.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.