Evolution and Classification of the Pocket Gophers of the Subfamily GeomyinaeRussell, Robert J.
Science
Evolution and Classification of the Pocket Gophers of the Subfamily Geomyinae
Russell, Robert J.
Pocket gophers
C´ Upper incisor unisulcate; skull strongly
dolichocephalic; rostrum remarkably broad and massive;
length of lingual plate of M3 approximately equal to,
or greater than, length of labial plate; pelage harsh,
often hispid and scant. Genus _Orthogeomys_ p. 528
B´ Posterior wall of P4 without trace of enamel; M3 not
strongly bicolumnar, having shallow re-entrant fold on
labial side, and crown no longer than wide owing to
shortness of posterior loph.
D Upper incisor bisulcate; skull generalized; both
anterior and posterior walls of M1 and M2 having
complete enamel plates. Genus _Geomys_ p. 525
D´ Upper incisor unisulcate; skull generalized or
tending towards platycephaly; enamel plate on
posterior wall of M1 usually reduced to lingual
side or absent (complete only in one species,
_Pappogeomys bulleri_); enamel plate on posterior
wall of M2 also absent in advanced species
(subgenus _Cratogeomys_). Genus _Pappogeomys_ p. 532
Genus =Pliogeomys= Hibbard
1954. _Pliogeomys_ Hibbard, Michigan Acad. Sci., Arts and
Letters, 39:353.
_Genotype._--_Pliogeomys buisi_ Hibbard, 1954, from Buis Ranch local
fauna (middle Pliocene), Beaver County, Oklahoma.
_Chronologic range._--Latest Middle Pliocene, known only from the
highest part of the Hemphillian mammalian fauna (Buis Ranch local
fauna, Oklahoma). Professor Hibbard informs me (personal
communication) that he found the type, a right ramus, lying on the
surface near the base of the fossil beds. The isolated teeth of small
geomyids from the Saw Rock Canyon local fauna (see Hibbard, 1953:392)
may also be referable to this genus. The Saw Rock Canyon local fauna
may also be middle Pliocene in age but is considered to be from the
later part of the late Pliocene, and, therefore, somewhat younger than
the Buis Ranch local fauna (Hibbard, _op. cit._:342).
_Description and discussion._--The size of members of this small genus
of the Geomyinae is about the same as in smaller adults of _Geomys
bursarius_. According to Hibbard (_op. cit._:353), the holotype is
smaller than specimens from the Rexroad local fauna referred to
_Geomys quinni_ and larger than specimens referred to _Zygogeomys_ cf.
_minor_. The cheek teeth are rooted, and the crowns are as high as
those of living geomyids. The upper incisor is bisulcate, and the
inner groove is fine and indistinct in places.
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