North American Jumping Mice (Genus Zapus)Krutzsch, Philip H. (Philip Henry)
Science
North American Jumping Mice (Genus Zapus)
Krutzsch, Philip H. (Philip Henry)
Zapus
1953 _intermedius_ (_Zapus hudsonius_) described as new on page 447
of this paper.
1953 _preblei_ (_Zapus hudsonius_) described as new on page 452 of
this paper.
CHARACTERS OF TAXONOMIC WORTH
EXTERNAL PARTS.--The total length, the length of the tail, and the
length of the hind foot are useful to some extent in distinguishing
species and subspecies. Geographic variation in these measurements is
clinal in some species. For example, _Zapus trinotatus_, which inhabits
the western coast of North America, decreases in size from the northern
to the southern part of its range. There is considerable overlap in
external measurements, in specimens of the same age, between the species
_Z. trinotatus_ and _Z. princeps_, but only slight overlap between _Z.
princeps_ and _Z. hudsonius_ and between _Z. trinotatus_ and _Z.
hudsonius_. If all collectors measured external parts in the same way
the measurements would be more useful for differentiating one species
from another.
PELAGE.--The pelage, both in its entirety and as individual hairs,
provides taxonomic characters as has been pointed out by Moojen
(1948:324) for the genus _Proechimys_, by Williams (1938:239) for the
Insectivora, and by Hausman (1920:496) for several groups of mammals.
In addition to the sensory hairs, facial vibrissae, nasal hairs, and
carpal vibrissae, there are three kinds of hairs in the normal coat of
_Zapus_: guard hairs, overhairs, and underfur. The guard hairs and
underfur differ in different species (see figs. 35-37).
The guard hairs taper at both ends, are elliptical in cross section, and
are wider and longer than the other two kinds of hair. The bases of the
guard hairs are grayish, and the amount of pigment gradually increases
distally to a dark brownish or blackish shade. The guard hairs vary in
greatest diameter from 96 microns to 168 microns, depending upon the
species, and variation in diameter provides characters of taxonomic
worth. No clinal variation in diameter of the guard hairs was detected.
In _Z. hudsonius_ the guard hairs average 115 microns (96-140) and are
significantly narrower than those of _Z. princeps_ and _Z. trinotatus_,
which average 142 microns (130-168) and 141 microns (133-154),
respectively. Pigmentation of the guard hairs contributes little
information useful in separating the species of _Zapus_. All of the
species have a prominent compounded medulla in which the pigment cells
anastomose to form a labyrinthine column.
The individual hair of the underfur is cylindrical and tapers abruptly
at each end; it is short, thin, flexible, and usually is bicolored on
the back and sides of the mouse. The apical zone is yellow-brown (for
example, Ochraceous-Buff) and the proximal part is whitish or grayish,
which gradually darkens to near black subapically.
The width of a hair in the underfur is of no taxonomic significance, in
that individual variation exceeds that between species.
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