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._--From the description given by Doutt (Proc. Biol. Soc.
Washington, 54:161, 1941) in his original description of this
subspecies, it appears that he had available for comparisons, only
subadult specimens of _C. g. galei_. As judged from the material of
_C. g. uintaensis_ available to us (1 topotype, KU 38081, and 7
specimens from Uinta County, Wyoming, listed below) and from Doutt's
(_op. cit._) description and measurements, the subspecies _C. g.
uintaensis_ is but weakly differentiated from _C. g. galei_. No marked
cranial differences are evident between the two subspecies; the
differences in pelage noted by Doutt (_op. cit._:161), however
("Similar to _Clethrionomys gapperi galei_ from Ward, Colorado, but
head and cheeks grayer; sides and back paler; belly whiter."), do seem
to be valid.
On the basis of these differences in pelage and the geographic
isolation of the range, we judge that _uintaensis_ should be retained
as a subspecies of _C. gapperi_. It is clear, however, that _C. g.
uintaensis_ is less distinct from _C. g. galei_ than are the other
adjacent subspecies.
_Specimens examined._--Total, 8, all in the University of Kansas
Museum of Natural History, distributed as follows:
+Wyoming+: _Uinta County_: 9 mi. S Robertson, 8000-8400 ft., 3; 9 mi.
S and 2 mi. E Robertson, 8000 ft., 2; 11-1/2 mi. S and 2 mi. E
Robertson, 9200 ft., 1; 14 mi. S and 2 mi. E Robertson, 9000 ft., 1.
+Utah+: _Uintah County_: Paradise Park, 21 mi. W, 15 mi. N Vernal,
10,050 ft., 1.
_Additional, marginal records_ (Durrant, Univ. Kansas Publ., Mus. Nat.
Hist., 6:356, August 19, 1952).--+Utah+: _Rich Co._: Monte Cristo, 18
mi. W Woodruff, 8000 ft. _Salt Lake Co._: Emigration Canyon, 8 mi.
above forks, 6,000 ft.; Silver Lake Post Office (Brighton), 9,500 ft.
_Wasatch Co._: Wolf Creek Summit, 9,800 ft. _Daggett Co._: Beaver
Dams, 10,500 ft.
+Clethrionomys gapperi gauti+, new subspecies
_Type._--Male, adult, skin and skull; No. 133515, Biological Surveys
Collections, United States National Museum, from Twining, 10,700 ft.,
Taos County, New Mexico; obtained on August 7, 1904, by James H. Gaut,
original number 3086.
_Range._--The Rocky Mountains of north-central New Mexico and
south-central Colorado.
_Diagnosis._--A brightly colored _Clethrionomys gapperi_; dorsal
stripe near Chestnut (capitalized color terms after Ridgway, Color
Standards and Color Nomenclature, Washington, D. C., 1912) with an
underwash of near Light Ochraceous-Buff and a mixture of black-tipped
guard hairs giving an over-all effect of between Tawny and Russet;
braincase relatively large; zygomatic width and lambdoidal width
large; nasals long.
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