Taxonomy and Distribution of Some American Shrews — John Shaqi
Taxonomy and Distribution of Some American ShrewsFindley, James S. (James Smith)
Science
Taxonomy and Distribution of Some American Shrews
Findley, James S. (James Smith)
Shrews
_=Sorex milleri=_ Jackson.--Koestner (1941:10) reported 5 _Sorex_ from
Cerro Potosi, near La Jolla, Municipio de Galeana, Nuevo Leon, as _Sorex
emarginatus_. Comparison of 4 of these specimens (Chicago Museum of
Natural History, 48227, 48228, 48229, 48230) with two _S. emarginatus_
from Plateado, Zacatecas, and specimens of other species of _Sorex_
indicates that the Cerro Potosi shrews differ in many features from
_emarginatus_, but closely resemble, in size and cranial characters, a
specimen (F. W. Miller, No. 20) of _S. milleri_ from Sierra del Carmen,
Coahuila, and seems to be referable to that species which was not named
when Koestner (_loc. cit._) recorded his specimen. The range of _S.
milleri_ is therefore extended southwestward to western central Nuevo
Leon.
Comparison of _S. milleri_ with specimens of other species of North
American _Sorex_ leads me to conclude that _S. milleri_ is most closely
related to_ S. cinereus_ Kerr, and should be included in the _S.
cinereus_ group rather than in the _S. vagrans-obscurus_ group. _Sorex
cinereus_ and _S. milleri_ are alike, and both differ from even the
smallest _S. vagrans_ in relatively long and narrow rostrum, narrow
teeth, smaller skull, and in having the third upper unicuspid more often
equal to or smaller than, rather than larger than, the fourth unicuspid.
I judge _S. milleri_ to be a relict population of _S. cinereus_,
isolated in the mountains of northeastern Mexico, probably in the late
Pleistocene. _Sorex cinereus_ reported from Pleistocene deposits in San
Josecito Cave, Nuevo Leon (Findley, 1953:635), probably represents a
population ancestral to the modern _S. milleri_. _Sorex milleri_ should
retain specific status because of constant cranial differences from _S.
cinereus_, particularly relatively broader rostrum.
LITERATURE CITED
BAKER, R. H.
1953. Mammals from owl pellets taken in Coahuila, Mexico. Trans.
Kansas Acad. Sci., 56:253-254.
BOLE, B. P., and P. N. MOULTHROP.
1942. The Ohio Recent mammal collection in the Cleveland Museum of
Natural History. Sci. Publs. Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist., 5:83-181,
September 11.
DAVIS, W. B.
1944. Notes on Mexican mammals. Jour. Mamm., 25:370-403, December
12.
FINDLEY, J. S.
1953. Pleistocene Soricidae from San Josecito Cave, Nuevo Leon,
Mexico. Univ. Kansas Publ., Mus. Nat. Hist., 5:635-639, December 1.
JACKSON, H. H. T.
1928. A taxonomic review of the American long-tailed shrews (Genera
Sorex and Microsorex). N. Amer. Fauna, 51:I-VI, 1-238, 13 pls., 24
text figs., July 24.
KOESTNER, E. J.
1941. An annotated list of mammals collected in Nuevo Leon, Mexico,
in 1938. Great Basin Nat., 2:9-15, February 20.
TWENTE, J. H., and R. H. BAKER.
1951. New records of mammals from Jalisco, Mexico, from barn owl
pellets. Jour. Mamm., 32:120-121, February 15.
25-7329
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