Speciation of the Wandering ShrewFindley, James S. (James Smith)
Science
Speciation of the Wandering Shrew
Findley, James S. (James Smith)
Shrews
_Remarks._--In their description of this subspecies Anderson and Rand
pointed out that specimens from the type locality and from central
Saskatchewan represent the dark extreme in a color cline which begins
in south-central British Columbia with "pale, brownish-tinged
animals." These authors referred shrews from Cypress Hills,
southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta to _S. o. soperi_,
although they noted that these specimens, taken by themselves, are not
strikingly different from _S. o. obscurus_ from the Rocky Mountains.
The specimens from the Cypress Hills were included in _soperi_ because
the authors felt that the subspecific boundary should be drawn "where
specimens average about half way between the extremes (of the cline)
in characters."
It is true, as Anderson and Rand say, that the shrews from Cypress
Hills are hardly separable from those from, say, Waterton Lakes Park.
The specimens from the Cypress Hills are noticeably different from
specimens from the Okanagan area, but some of the latter, in my
opinion may represent intergrades between _S. v. obscurus_ and the
more reddish _S. v. vagrans_ and are not, at any rate, typical
_obscurus_. In view of the similarity of shrews from Cypress Hills to
typical _S. v. obscurus_ and since the Cypress Hills are much nearer
to the range of _S. v. obscurus_ than to the record-stations of
occurrence in central Saskatchewan and Manitoba, I have chosen to
restrict the name _soperi_ to shrews from these latter two localities.
Seemingly _S. vagrans_ is absent from the plains separating the
Cypress Hills from the Rocky Mountains and from Riding Mountain
National Park.
_Specimens examined._--none.
_Marginal records._--SASKATCHEWAN: Prince Albert National Park, 1700
ft. (Anderson and Rand, 1945:48). MANITOBA: Riding Mountain National
Park, 2-1/2 mi. NW Audy Lake (ibid.).
=Sorex vagrans longiquus= new subspecies
_Type._--First year male, skin and skull; No. 87332, Univ. Michigan
Mus. Zool.; obtained on July 21, 1942, by Emmet T. Hooper from 25 mi.
ESE Big Sandy, Eagle Creek, Chouteau Co., Montana, original no. 2184.
_Range._--Central Montana; marginal localities are: Bearpaw Mts.,
Zortman, Big Snowy Mts., Buffalo, Little Belt Mts.
_Diagnosis._--Size small for the species; measurements of three
topotypes are: total length, 101, 105, 108; tail, 39, 40, 42; hind
foot, 11.5, 11.5, 12. Color pale; summer pelage: back near (17'''_k_)
Olive Brown but hairs of dorsum with a pale, buffy band proximal from
the tips which imparts a pale over-all appearance; flanks near Wood
Brown; underparts Pale Smoke Gray, usually not with a buffy wash;
color of underparts often extending along margin of upper lip. Skull
small for species; rostrum relatively broad and heavy; relatively
broad interorbitally.
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