Geographic Distribution of the Pocket Mouse, Perognathus fasciatusJones, J. Knox
Science
Geographic Distribution of the Pocket Mouse, Perognathus fasciatus
Jones, J. Knox
Pocket mice
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 9, as follows: WYOMING:
_Carbon County_: 8 mi. SE Lost Soldier, 6700 ft., 1 (USBS).
_Fremont County_: Granite Mts., 1 (MZ). _Natrona County_: 5 mi. W
Independence Rock, 6000 ft., 4 (KU); Sun, 1 (USBS); 16 mi. S, 11
mi. W Waltman, 6950 ft., 1 (KU). _Sweetwater County_: 27 mi. N
Table Rock, 1 (MZ).
=Perognathus fasciatus callistus= Osgood
_Perognathus callistus_ Osgood, N. Amer. Fauna, 18:28, September
20, 1900, type from Kinney Ranch, near Bitter Creek, Sweetwater
County, Wyoming.
_Geographic distribution._--East of the Green River in central and
southern parts of Sweetwater County, Wyoming, and adjacent parts of
Moffat County, Colorado (see Figure 1).
_Remarks._--For comparisons with _Perognathus fasciatus litus_,
geographically adjacent to the north, see account of that subspecies.
When Osgood (_loc. cit._) described _P. f. callistus_ as a full species,
he characterized it as having " ... the attractive coloration of
_fasciatus_, but softer and more delicate. Its position is evidently
between _fasciatus_ and _apache_, and its nearest relations are clearly
with the latter." He further remarked that, "Its large size immediately
separates it from _fasciatus_ which it resembles externally, especially
before maturity."
Comparison of the average and extreme external measurements of ten adult
_P. f. callistus_ from Sweetwater County, Wyoming, with adult
individuals of other subspecies of _P. fasciatus_ shows that _callistus_
does not average larger than _P. f. olivaceogriseus_ except in length of
hind foot and that it averages slightly smaller in all external
measurements than topotypes of _P. f. fasciatus_. Moreover, judging from
the accounts of Goldman (1918:24) and Durrant (1952:235), _Perognathus
apache caryi_ (the subspecies of _P. apache_ nearest to the range of _P.
f. callistus_) is significantly larger externally and has no trace of
olivaceous in the dorsal pelage.
Comparison of the skulls of _callistus_ with a skull of _Perognathus
apache apache_ from Wingate, New Mexico (USBS 137388), reveals the
following differences: Interparietal bone wider in _callistus_,
averaging 4.5 (as opposed to 4.0) and more pentagonal; lacrimal bone
shorter and stouter in _callistus_; tympanic bullae more inflated in
_callistus_; interorbital foramina larger in _callistus_; lower premolar
approximately the same size as the last lower molar in _callistus_,
approximately half the size of the last lower molar in _apache_.
Conversely, comparison of skulls of _callistus_ with those of _P.
fasciatus_ as concerns the above mentioned features reveals that they
closely resemble each other. In view of this resemblance it seems best
to arrange _callistus_ as a subspecies of _P. fasciatus_.
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