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Pleistocene Soricidae from San Josecito Cave,
Nuevo Leon, Mexico
BY
JAMES S. FINDLEY
University of Kansas Publications
Museum of Natural History
Volume 5, No. 36, pp. 633-639
December 1, 1953
University of Kansas
LAWRENCE
1953
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, A. Byron Leonard,
Robert W. Wilson
Volume 5, No. 36, pp. 633-639
December 1, 1953
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Lawrence, Kansas
PRINTED BY
FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER
TOPEKA, KANSAS
1953
25-265
Pleistocene Soricidae from San Josecito Cave,
Nuevo Leon, Mexico
By
JAMES S. FINDLEY
Bones of a large number of vertebrates of Pleistocene age have been
removed from San Josecito Cave near Aramberri, Nuevo León, México.
These bones have been reported upon in part by Stock (1942) and Cushing
(1945). A part of this material, on loan to the University of Kansas
from the California Institute of Technology, contains 26 rami and one
rostrum of soricid insectivores. Nothing seems to be known of the
Pleistocene Soricidae of México. The workers cited do not mention them
and no shrews are listed by Maldonado-Koerdell (1948) in his catalog of
the Quaternary mammals of México. Comparison of these specimens with
pertinent Recent material from México, the United States, and Canada
leads me to the conclusion that they represent two genera and at least
three species. The material examined is described below.
Sorex cinereus Kerr
One right ramus, bearing all three molars but lacking the other teeth
and the tip of the coronoid process, needs close comparison only with
certain of the smaller North American species of _Sorex_. From _S.
merriami_ of southeastern Wyoming, it differs in having a shorter, much
shallower dentary, a shorter molar row, and a lower coronoid. In every
particular it is identical with _Sorex cinereus_. _Sorex cinereus_ from
northern British Columbia and the specimen from Nuevo León differ from
_Sorex saussurei_, _S. obscurus_, and _S. vagrans_ in the ratio of the
height of the coronoid to the length of the dentary. This ratio
averages 49.6% in _S. cinereus_ and 53.0% or more (up to 60.0%) in the
other species. _Microsorex hoyi_ differs from _S. cinereus_ and from
the specimen in question in deeper and shorter dentary, more robust
condyle, dentary less bowed dorsally, molars shorter in anteroposterior
diameter and higher in proportion to this dimension.
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