Subspeciation in the Kangaroo Rat, Dipodomys ordii: KU. Vol 1 No 23Setzer, Henry W.
Science
Subspeciation in the Kangaroo Rat, Dipodomys ordii: KU. Vol 1 No 23
Setzer, Henry W.
Kangaroo rats
From _Dipodomys ordii cupidineus_, _D. o. longipes_ differs in:
Size larger; color lighter; rostrum longer and narrower; nasals
longer; interorbital width greater; breadth across zygomatic
processes of maxillae greater; auditory bullae more inflated;
zygomatic arches heavier and more bowed laterally.
For comparisons with _Dipodomys ordii medius_ and _Dipodomys ordii
nexilis_ see accounts of those subspecies.
_Remarks._--The large reddish _Dipodomys ordii longipes_ is notably
distinct from those subspecies which have adjoining ranges. The
subspecies closest, geographically and morphologically, is _Dipodomys
ordii nexilis_ with which _D. o. longipes_ intergrades, in size of body
and color of pelage, north of the San Juan River, Utah. This
intergradation is probably the result of a migration of _D. o. longipes_
around the head waters of, or above the place in, the river where there
is constantly flowing water. It is probably impossible for these animals
to cross a constantly flowing stream as wide as the San Juan is in its
lower reaches. The San Juan River, however, in 1896, and again in 1934,
was so low that it ceased to flow below Aneth (Gregory, 1938:6, 19).
Consequently, at these times, _Dipodomys_ could have crossed the river
from one side to the other, at least above the Goosenecks.
Intergradation is noted also with _Dipodomys ordii medius_ at Chama
Canyon, New Mexico, where the color is like that of _D. o. medius_,
although the cranial characters are as in _D. o. longipes_; specimens
from Chama Canyon are referred to the latter. Ten miles southwest of
Quemado and at Riley, New Mexico, intergradation with _Dipodomys ordii
ordii_ occurs in the shape of the nasals and the intermediate size of
the skull. In color and external measurements these animals more closely
resemble _D. o. longipes_.
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