Geographic Variation in the Harvest Mouse, Reithrodontomys megalotis, On the Central Great Plains And in Adjacent RegionsJones, J. Knox
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Geographic Variation in the Harvest Mouse, Reithrodontomys megalotis, On the Central Great Plains And in Adjacent Regions
Jones, J. Knox
Animals -- Variation; Reithrodontomys
"_Reithrodontomys aztecus_" J. A. Allen, 1893 (type locality, La
Plata, San Juan Co., New Mexico), currently applied to specimens
from northern New Mexico and southern Colorado (and adjacent parts
of Arizona and Utah) east to southwestern Kansas and the Oklahoma
Panhandle;
"_Reithrodontomys megalotis caryi_" A. H. Howell, 1935 (type
locality, Medano Ranch, 15 mi. NE Mosca, Alamosa Co., Colorado),
proposed for, and currently applied to, harvest mice from the San
Luis Valley, Colorado, but possibly a synonym of _aztecus_ according
to Hooper (1952:218); and
"_Reithrodontomys dychei nebrascensis_" J. A. Allen, 1895 (type
locality, Kennedy, Cherry Co., Nebraska), proposed for harvest mice
from western Nebraska and adjacent areas, but regarded as a synonym
of _dychei_ by A. H. Howell (1914:30-31).
Our comments concerning the taxonomic status of these several names
appear beyond.
We are grateful to Dr. W. Frank Blair, University of Texas, for the
loan of a specimen from the Texas Panhandle (TU), and to Dr. Richard
H. Manville, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, for the loan of
specimens of _R. m. caryi_ from the Biological Surveys Collection
(USNM). We are grateful also to persons in charge of the following
collections for allowing one of us (Jones) to examine Nebraskan
specimens of _R. megalotis_ in their care: University of Michigan
Museum of Zoology (UMMZ); University of Nebraska State Museum (NSM);
and U.S. National Museum (USNM). A research grant from the Society
of the Sigma Xi facilitated travel to the institutions mentioned.
Specimens not identified as to collection are in the Museum of
Natural History of The University of Kansas. All measurements are in
millimeters, and are of adults (as defined by Hooper, 1952:12)
unless otherwise noted.
Secondary Sexual Variation
Hooper (1952) did not accord separate treatment to males and females in
taxonomic accounts of Latin American harvest mice because (p. 11): "In
no species ... does sexual dimorphism in the measurements, if present at
all, appear to be sufficient to warrant separating the sexes in the
analysis." Hooper did not statistically test the validity of treating
the sexes together in _R. megalotis_. He did test a series of _R.
sumichrasti_ from El Salvador, in which he found no basis for separate
treatment of males and females.
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