Female (based on ten adults from Sierra Nevada of California): See
measurements and plates 33-35; weight, 2.2 (1.8-2.4) grams;
basilar length, 38.2 (36.7-39.5); zygomatic breadth more (except
in one specimen) than distance between condylar foramen and M1 and
more (save in two specimens) than distance between anterior
palatine foramen and anterior margin of tympanic bulla;
postorbital breadth less than length of upper premolars and less
than (except in one specimen) width of basioccipital measured from
medial margin of one foramen lacerum posterior to its opposite;
least width of palate more or less than either outside or inside
length of P4 but generally less than inside length; tympanic bulla
as far posterior to foramen ovale as width of 3 to 5-1/2 upper
incisors; height of tympanic bulla more or less (usually more)
than distance from its anterior margin to foramen ovale; length of
tympanic bulla more than length of lower molar and premolar
tooth-row and more or less than length of rostrum.
The skull of the female averages 41 per cent lighter than that of
the average male.
Compared with the skull of _M. f. longicauda_, that of both sexes
averages smaller in every measurement taken. Males of _nevadensis_, on
the average, relative to the basilar length, are narrower in the
interorbital region and across the zygomata but have the orbitonasal
length greater. Stated in another way, the rostrum of _longicauda_
appears to be shorter and broader and the zygomata are more expanded.
Females of _nevadensis_, on the average, relative to the basilar length
are narrower across the mastoid processes and zygomata and have the
braincase deeper at the anterior margin of the basioccipital. Also in
_nevadensis_ the mastoid processes do not project so far laterally
beyond the braincase, the lambdoidal crest and postorbital processes
are less well developed and except in the interparietal region, the
temporal ridges hardly meet and they form a sagittal furrow rather than
a low sagittal crest which characterizes adult females of _longicauda_.
Each of these differences separating the females of _longicauda_ from
those of _nevadensis_ are of the same nature, although not necessarily
of the same degree, as those which appear in _longicauda_ with
increasing age. The differences mentioned above are readily appreciable
when series of specimens are compared. However, none of the differences
is of great degree, and most parts of the skulls of the two subspecies
are of similar relative proportions. Even so, there is but little
overlap in actual size. Comparisons with the skulls of _M. f.
oribasus_, _alleni_, _neomexicana_, _arizonensis_, _inyoensis_,
_pulchra_, _xanthogenys_, _munda_, _saturata_, _oregonensis_,
_washingtoni_, _altifrontalis_, and _effera_ are made in the accounts
of those subspecies.
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