Subspeciation in Pocket Gophers of Kansas, [KU. Vol. 1 No. 11]Hall, E. Raymond (Eugene Raymond)
Science
Subspeciation in Pocket Gophers of Kansas, [KU. Vol. 1 No. 11]
Hall, E. Raymond (Eugene Raymond)
Mammals -- Kansas; Pocket gophers
From _G. bursarius industrius_, _major_ differs in color, being Prout's
Brown, instead of Cinnamon Brown (less Fuscous); body averaging 10 per
cent longer; total length in males from 9 to 9.7 per cent longer, hind
foot 9.7 per cent longer on the average; skull averaging larger in all
parts measured. Occiput less inclined anterodorsally; top nearly flat,
less arched than that of _G. b. industrius_; auditory bulla averaging
slightly larger and less inflated.
_Remarks._--Specimens of this subspecies from Norman, Cleveland County,
Oklahoma, and Canton, Dewey County, Oklahoma, and most of those from
Kansas, are more Fuscous than topotypes and tend toward _G. bursarius
majusculus_. Specimens from McPherson County have a darker dorsal stripe
resembling that of _G. bursarius majusculus_. One adult from Little Salt
Marsh, Stafford County, is pale, closely resembling topotypes.
Most of the cranial characters, nevertheless, are constant in all
available specimens, except that in specimens of each sex from the type
locality the basilar length averages 4 to 5 per cent shorter. In the
constancy of size of the relatively large auditory bullae and in the
nearly flat dorsal profile of the cranial part of the skull, the
specimens from Kansas agree with the specimens from the type locality.
Specimens from Harper County have the occiput slightly inclined
anterodorsally and thus are reminiscent of _industrius_ which has an
even greater inclination of the occiput. Probably the appearance in
dilute fashion of this character in Harper County is properly to be
interpreted as intergradation with _industrius_. If so, the actual
intergradation may be to the northwest _via_ Pratt County since
specimens from Barber County, immediately west of Harper and lying
between Harper County and the range of _industrius_, do not have the
occiput so inclined.
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