For each subspecies, information is presented in the following order:
earliest available zoölogical name, synonyms, type, geographic range,
zoölogical characters for ready recognition, description (mentioning
size, certain external features including color, the skull and teeth)
historical material when warranted, remarks which may elaborate on
points made in preceding paragraphs, and other information thought to
be useful, and finally a list of specimens examined.
In explanation of certain of these categories it should be said that in
the synonymy no attempt is made to list every published reference to
the subspecies concerned. It is aimed, however, to include at least one
citation to each name-combination that has been applied, to the
subspecies concerned, along with other especially important references.
Mere records of occurrence are not regarded as especially important and
citations to them ordinarily are omitted in the synonymy. No comma is
placed between the zoölogical name and the name of the author who
coined and first used the name in accordance with the rules of
zoölogical nomenclature. Otherwise a comma is interposed between the
zoölogical name and the name of the user (author). When the accepted
(earliest available) name of a subspecies at the head of any one of the
following accounts is combined with a generic name different from that
with which it originally was placed, the authority for the name is set
in parentheses. The same rule is followed with the name of a full
species when it is written without any subspecific name following.
Parentheses in such situations, therefore, denote that for the terminal
part of the scientific name there has been a change in generic name
with which the terminal part of the scientific name is here associated.
In the paragraph headed "characters for ready recognition," only a few
characters, namely, those regarded as most useful for identification
when the student has limited time, are mentioned. Other features useful
for distinguishing the kind of animal in question from its near
relatives are to be found in the description and comparisons.
In the description, external measurements, unless otherwise indicated,
are those recorded by the collector on the label attached to the skin.
Total length is the distance from the tip of the pad on the nose to the
tip of the fleshy part of the tail when the relaxed animal is laid out
straight, not stretched. This measurement does not include the hairs
that project beyond the end of the fleshy part of the tail. Length of
tail is the distance from the base of the tail, when it is bent at
right angles to the long axis of the body, to the tip of the fleshy
part of the tail excluding the hairs that project beyond the fleshy
part of the tail. Length of tail and length of tail-vertebrae are
synonymous. Length of hind foot is measured from the proximal end of
the calcaneum to the tip of the longest claw.
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