Geographic Variation in Red-backed Mice (Genus Clethrionomys) of the Southern Rocky Mountain RegionCockrum, E. Lendell
Science
Geographic Variation in Red-backed Mice (Genus Clethrionomys) of the Southern Rocky Mountain Region
Cockrum, E. Lendell
Animals -- Variation; Mice
_Remarks._--_C. g. galei_, with the largest geographic range of any
of the Rocky Mountain subspecies, is also the most variable. Three
principal areas of geographic variation were found. These areas are:
The mountains of north-central Colorado and southern Wyoming (this
area includes the type locality); the Big Horn area probably northwest
into Montana (no adult specimens from Montana or Alberta examined);
and the Teton area which includes the mountains east and southeast of
Yellowstone National Park. Specimens from these areas have noticeable
differences in pelage, but no constant cranial differentiation could
be detected. Specimens from the Medicine Bow Mountains of southern
Wyoming have a more reddish dorsal stripe, and more buff and less gray
on the sides than either of the northern geographic variants. The
dorsal stripe continues farther anteriorly and is better defined
through its entire length. There are fewer differences between the two
northern geographic variants than between either one of them and the
southern variant. Specimens from the Teton Mountains, however, have
grayer sides, and the outer margin of the ear is tipped with chestnut
(little or no chestnut shows on the ears of the specimens from the Big
Horn Mountains); the dorsal stripe is less distinct (with slightly
more gray throughout) than in either of the other geographic variants
of the one subspecies.
Three specimens (two adults) are available from the Little Medicine
Range in Converse County (22 miles south and 24.5 miles west of
Douglas, 7600 feet), Wyoming. Although red-backed mice probably are
found in the mountains of Natrona and Albany counties, the population,
in the Little Medicine Range is somewhat isolated. In coloration these
mice are lighter than any of the three geographic variants described
above; the dorsal stripe is narrower; the sides are more buffy; the
dorsal stripe does not project anteriorly beyond the ears as it does
in the specimens from the Medicine Bow Mountains; and the face is
grayer. These specimens resemble the population in the Big Horn
Mountains to the north more than the population in the Medicine Bow
Mountains.
The specimens from the Little Medicine Range, the Big Horn Range, and
the Tetons are possibly subspecifically distinct from the southern
specimens. Examination of specimens now allocated to _galei_ from
Montana and Alberta should aid in revealing whether the northern
animals are an unnamed subspecies.
_Specimens examined._--Total, 167, distributed as follows and unless
otherwise stated, in the collection of the University of Kansas Museum
of Natural History:
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