Mammals taken Along the Alaska HighwayBaker, Rollin H. (Rollin Harold)
Science
Mammals taken Along the Alaska Highway
Baker, Rollin H. (Rollin Harold)
Mammals -- North America
The Pennsylvania meadow mouse is an abundant mammal along the Alaska
Highway. Alcorn obtained specimens at most of his trapping stations,
frequently in company with _Microtus oeconomus_ at the more northern
localities. A preferred habitat was grassy areas and willow clumps
along streams or at the edges of lakes. The best catches were made
along well-used runways, especially where there were piles of cut
grass. These runways were used also by _Clethrionomys_ and other small
animals. Specimens of _M. pennsylvanicus_ were frequently taken in
the daytime; one was taken on June 29 as it was swimming at the edge
of a small lake near the junction of the Liard River and Irons Creek
in British Columbia.
Lacking sufficient comparative material in the past, most workers have
considered that _M. pennsylvanicus_ ranges without appreciable
geographic variation throughout most of northwestern Canada and
Alaska, where it has been referred to the subspecies, _M. p.
drummondii_. Dale (1940), in studying collections made in British
Columbia and southeastern Alaska, found evidence of geographic
variation and recognized two new subspecies; thus he not only pointed
out geographically variable characters but reduced the size of the
range ascribed to _M. p. drummondii_. A later work by Rand (1943)
considered the northwestern populations of _M. pennsylvanicus_ as
being too variable to show distinctive groupings. The large collection
made by Alcorn offers evidence that other separable subspecies with
constant characters are present. Study of this material indicates the
presence of two unnamed subspecies, which are named and described as
follows:
Microtus pennsylvanicus alcorni new subspecies
_Type._--Female, adult, skin with skull, No. 21552, Univ. Kansas, Mus.
Nat. Hist., 6 mi. SW Kluane, 2550 feet elevation, Yukon Territory,
Canada; 24 August 1947; obtained by J. R. Alcorn; original No. 5240.
_Range._--Extreme southwestern Yukon Territory and adjacent parts of
Alaska as far south as Haines, as far north as Northway, and as far
west along the Alaskan coast as Anchorage and Tyonek.
_Diagnosis._--Size large (see measurements); color of upper parts near
(_l_) Brussels Brown; skull noticeably ridged; zygomatic arches heavy,
rounded and relatively short; rostrum heavy; auditory bullae not
greatly expanded; maxillary teeth relatively heavy and low-crowned.
_Comparisons._--From _M. p. drummondii_ (specimens from vicinity of
Whitehorse, Y. T., Trutch, B. C., and Kinuso, Alberta), _M. p.
alcorni_ differs as follows: Averaging larger in all measurements
taken except lengths of tail and hind foot, which are the same; color
of upper parts slightly paler and more gray and less brown; underparts
paler; zygomatic arches heavier, rounder and shorter; skull
proportionately more massive, except the auditory bullae which are
less inflated; maxillary teeth heavier and lower-crowned.
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