Speciation and Evolution of the Pygmy Mice, Genus Baiomys — John Shaqi
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
If, after the postjuvenal molt, a distinct adult pelage is acquired it
is difficult to separate it from the annual replacement of pelage in
adults at the beginning of the rainy season. Adults of both species have
been found in molt in all months of the year. To the north, in Texas,
the pelage of winter-taken specimens is denser and slightly more reddish
than that of specimens taken in spring and summer. In the two last
mentioned seasons, the pelage is more uniformly gray. To the south, in
Mexico, the pelage is heavy and long in most specimens taken in the
rainy season. The percentage of specimens in molt immediately before the
rainy season and immediately before the dry season is slightly higher
than in specimens taken at other times of the year. The adult or
seasonal molt (both loss of old pelage and growth of new) resembles that
in _Peromyscus truei gilberti_, described by Hoffmeister (1951:6) as
proceeding "posteriorly as a wave over the entire back." The new hair is
slightly brighter than the old. Old adults are usually in ragged pelage
regardless of season; possibly only one regular annual change of pelage
occurs in most animals before they die. Only one case of melanism was
observed among all the specimens of both species examined. It was a
young male _B. t. taylori_, KU 35943, from 6 mi. SW San Geronimo,
Coahuila, possessing black hairs throughout. Its hairs are longer and
finer than those on specimens of comparable age and sex. No albino was
found, although Stickel and Stickel (1949:145) record one--an adult male
of _B. taylori_.
TAXONOMIC CHARACTERS AND RELATIONSHIPS
_External parts._--Length of body, foot, ear, and tail are useful when
considered together in distinguishing species and subspecies. I found as
Hooper (1952a:91) did that length of ear in combination with length of
hind foot suffices to identify nearly all specimens to species,
especially where the two species occur together.
_Pelage._--Color in adults is of especial value in subspecific
determination; the manner in which it varies geographically is described
on pages 609, 630.
_Skull._--Difference in occipitonasal length and zygomatic breadth, both
having low coefficients of variation, are useful in separating species,
especially where they are sympatric. Shape of presphenoid, nasals,
interparietal, frontoparietal sutures, and length and degree of the
openings of the incisive foramina are useful in delimiting subspecies.
The rostrum of _B. taylori_, in front of the frontonasal suture, is
deflected three to five degrees ventrally in 85 per cent of the adults
examined, and in _B. musculus_ is less, or not at all, deflected.
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