Speciation and Evolution of the Pygmy Mice, Genus BaiomysPackard, Robert L. (Robert Lewis)
Science
Speciation and Evolution of the Pygmy Mice, Genus Baiomys
Packard, Robert L. (Robert Lewis)
Mice
_Young._--Weaned mice; cranium fragile; sutures between frontals and
parietals, interparietal and parietals, basioccipital and basisphenoid,
basisphenoid and presphenoid, premaxillaries and maxillaries widely
open; M3 and m3 erupted beyond margins of their alveoli (molars erupt
from anterior to posterior; M3 and m3, therefore, are last to erupt); in
some specimens, molars slightly worn; pelage still dusky and relatively
fine and sparse.
_Subadults._--Sutures between bones of skull less widely open than in
young; epiphyses of long bones incompletely coalesced to shaft; relative
to length of skull, braincase higher and rostrum shorter than in adults;
all cusps worn, but dentine not occlusally confluent; primary first and
second folds of third upper molars present; primary first fold and major
fold of lower molars visible; pelage a subtle mixture of colors of young
and adult, but resembling most that of adult; molts into postjuvenal
pelage between 46 and 50 days.
_Adults._--Sutures of skull, and those between epiphyses and shaft of
long bones obliterated except that, in some mice, sutures of skull
persist between frontoparietal, and interparietal; cusps of molars so
worn that dentine occlusally confluent; small island of enamel in third
upper and lower molars of some specimens; relative to length of skull,
cranium lower, rostrum longer, and interorbital region narrower than in
subadult; cranium appears to be more flattened dorsoventrally; between
subadult and adult stages, principal growth occurs in basioccipital,
basisphenoid, frontals, and parietals; nasals grow less.
Although all bones of the skull grow in the subadult and early adult
stages (see table 1), the above-named bones grow faster than others and
thus cause the general flattening of the skull, typical of adults
(similar to that reported by Hoffmeister, 1951:7). The body continues to
lengthen, accounting for the increase in total length of the adult (see
table 1). Hind foot, tail and ear, reach their maximum lengths by
subadult stage. Adult pelage has been acquired, and the color is
brighter than in either subadults or old adults.
_Old Adults._--Characterized principally by well-worn molars; only thin
peripheral band of enamel along with slight evidence of any primary or
secondary folds on any teeth remain; all bones of skull coalesced;
epiphyses and shafts of long bones ankylosed; small bony protuberances
on many skulls; pelage usually ragged, tips of the hairs being worn
away; white flecking and spotting not common, but occurs in some adults.
TABLE 1.--Average and Extreme Measurements (in Millimeters) of
Skulls of Five Age-groups of Baiomys taylori from vic.
(see p. 595) Altamira, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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