The light facial markings appear in American weasels in two separate
geographic areas. One is the southwestern United States, México and
northern Central America. The second area is in the same latitude, in
Florida and adjoining parts of Georgia and Alabama. In the western
weasels the markings are white south of latitude 32° N. North of this
latitude, the facial markings, if at all extensive, usually are of the
same yellowish color as the underparts of the body. Weasels of southern
California and its interior valley usually have these yellowish instead
of white facial markings. The light facial markings, in this instance,
white markings, attain their maximum extent in _M. f. leucoparia_ of
the southwestern margin of the tableland of México, at latitude 19° N.
A gradual decrease in area of the light facial markings occurs both to
the north and south; they disappear at 10° N in _M. f. costaricensis_
and at 35° N at approximately the southern limits of range of _M. f.
arizonensis_ and _M. f. nevadensis_. In the mild climate of California
the light (yellowish) facial markings are found at still higher
latitudes. These light facial markings crop up as vestiginal remnants,
consisting of a few white hairs, in some individuals of nearly all
races of weasels.
In certain parts of the skull there are trends, in size and shape,
which continue for long distances geographically. In other words,
clines can be recognized. Changes in size and shape in some other parts
of the skull are wavelike; change toward narrower rostrum, for example,
is not progressive in a given geographic direction for any great
distance. Length of the upper tooth-rows and zygomatic breadth, when
expressed as percentages of the basilar length, and also the actual
length of individual teeth vary geographically in the same wavelike
fashion as does the width of the rostrum.
Size of the skull, on the other hand, shows a sustained trend for a
long distance; it becomes progressively smaller from the southern
United States southward to Columbia, South America. This clinal
variation can be demonstrated by plotting on a graph, the basilar
length, the zygomatic breadth, or the weight of the skull. Beginning at
Mérida, Venezuela, and proceeding southward to increasing elevations in
the mountains of South America, there is a reversal of the direction of
the variation in this cline; weight of skull, for example, increases to
the southward from Mérida for a considerable distance. A cline of
decreasing width of the postorbital constriction of the skull is
evident from Panamá north into Texas.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account