Female (based on 5 adults and subadults from Douglas County,
Kansas): See measurements and plates 31-33; weight, 2.2 (2.0-2.4)
grams; basilar length, 38.9 (37.6-40.7); zygomatic breadth less
than distance between condylar foramen and M1 or than between
anterior palatine foramen and anterior margin of tympanic bulla;
postorbital breadth less than length of upper premolars and except
in one specimen, more than width of basioccipital measured from
medial margin of one foramen lacerum posterior to its opposite;
least width of palate less than greatest length of P4; tympanic
bulla as far posterior to foramen ovale as width of 3 to 5 upper
incisors; height of tympanic bulla more or less than distance from
its anterior margin to foramen ovale; length of tympanic bulla
more than length of lower molar and premolar tooth-row and longer
than rostrum.
The skull of the female averages 41 per cent lighter than that of
the male.
Compared with the skull of _M. f. noveboracensis_ from Massachusetts,
that of the male of _primulina_, in dorsal view, is seen to be shorter
anteriorly to the postorbital processes and to have a more marked
postorbital constriction. In lateral view the dorsal outline of the
skull of _primulina_ is less concave in the postorbital region. In
ventral view the skull of _primulina_ is seen to be wider across the
mastoid processes and zygomatic arches but the most pronounced
difference is in the tympanic bullae. In _noveboracensis_ each bulla is
scooped out on the anterior part of the medial face and appears to be
narrower anteriorly than posteriorly whereas in _primulina_ the
anterior part of the medial face is not scooped out but is moderately
inflated and the bulla appears to be of uniform breadth anteriorly and
posteriorly. By actual measurement the breadth of the bulla averages 59
per cent of its length in _primulina_ but only 50 per cent in
_noveboracensis_. Other respects in which the skull of the male of
_primulina_ differs from that of _noveboracensis_ are as follows:
Linear measurements of teeth more; relative to the basilar length, the
length of the tooth-rows averages more, whereas the interorbital
breadth and orbitonasal length are less.
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