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
_Comparisons._--For comparisons with _B. t. subater_, _B. t. analogous_,
and _B. t. fuliginatus_, see accounts of those subspecies. From _B. t.
paulus_, found to the southwest, _B. t. taylori_ differs as follows:
dorsum grayish rather than fawn-colored; hairs on dorsal parts of
forefeet and hind feet sooty-gray (not white to white-brown); venter
gray to Light Drab-Gray, rather than whitish with gray overtones; tail
unicolored instead of bicolored; skull averaging slightly larger
over-all; maxillary part of zygoma forms right angle with rostrum rather
than obtuse angle; incisive foramina extending posteriorly to anterior
plane of first upper molars instead of to a transverse plane at middle
of right and left first upper molars; bullae less inflated; interorbital
region broader relative to length of skull; rostrum sloping gently from
frontonasal suture to anterior tip of nasals rather than declining
abruptly from frontonasal suture to anterior tip of nasals.
_Remarks._--The geographic range of _taylori_ is relatively large, and
the subspecies is locally variable. Nevertheless, none of the external
and cranial measurements of specimens assigned to this subspecies
differs significantly from the corresponding measurements of material
from the type locality and adjacent areas in southeastern Texas. In
southeastern Texas, south of the Guadalupe River, south to the coastal
plain of Tamaulipas, this subspecies differs in color (being paler) from
_B. t. subater_ with which _taylori_ might be confused. The foothills of
the Sierra Madre Oriental in western Tamaulipas, north through Nuevo
Leon and Coahuila, seem to mark the southwestern limit of the range
assignable to _taylori_.
On December 27, 1958, a specimen, KU 81552, was obtained 3 mi. N Bowie,
Montague County, Texas. This record station extends the known range of
_B. taylori_ 65 miles northward from the previous northernmost locality,
listed by Hunsaker, Raun, and Swindells (1959:447). Two specimens, KU
81553 and 81554, were collected by the author 2 mi. NE Cedar Hill,
Dallas County, Texas, on October 31, 1958. These two specimens, plus the
single specimen from Bowie County are all paler with more buffy bellies
than either _B. t. taylori_ or _B. t. subater_. They may represent an
incipient subspecies. I tentatively assign them to _B. t. taylori_
because of the pale rather than dark (like _B. t. subater_) pelage.
Additional specimens are needed from these areas and from the hiatus
between the ranges of _B. t. taylori_ and _B. t. subater_ the better to
understand the manner in which these two subspecies intergrade.
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