Baculum: Stalk broad and flattened, greatest length (3.5 mm.) 1-2/3 to 2
times greatest width, 4 to 5-1/2 times greatest depth; three ossified
processes, median one largest, lateral processes slender, relatively
small; length of median process 3/8 length of stalk; median process
decurved, dorsoventrally flattened in some specimens, widened at base;
attachment of processes to shaft displaced ventrally; base of stalk
widened, posterior profile in dorsal view usually trilobate, in a few
cases rounded, median lobe forming posterior shelf, lateral lobes
dorsally raised and forming margins of lateral tuberosities; in end-view
thickness frequently more or less uniform throughout central part, broad
depression dorsally, ventral concavity narrower and shallower (as
figured); base, and occasionally shaft, flattened, width at mid-point of
stalk 2 to 3 times depth, narrowest point posterior to terminal inflation
of shaft in terminal 1/3 of shaft.
The baculum of _M. oeconomus_ (Old World) figured by Ognev (1950:257)
resembles but exceeds that of _M. oeconomus_ (New World) in the
relatively large median process and slender lateral processes, but
differs noticeably in the presence of a deep median notch in the base of
the stalk. A specimen from Hungary is intermediate between Ognev's
specimen and those from the New World in both size of median process and
size of lateral processes, and has an unnotched base resembling that in
Figure 44.
_Specimens examined_: Ten, of three subspecies; _M. oeconomus gilmorei_,
Umiat, Alaska, 51354, 51361, 51399, 51408; Lake Schrader, Brooks Range,
Alaska, 51422; _M. o. macfarlani_, 5 mi. NNE Gulkana, Alaska, 43039,
43041; 20 mi. NE Anchorage, Alaska, 43044; Kelsall Lake, British
Columbia, 43048; _M. o. mehelyi_, Kisbalatan, Hungary, 75159.
Microtus mexicanus (Saussure)
Figs. 35 and 36
Baculum: Stalk attenuate, greatest breadth relatively near proximal end;
greatest length (3.1 to 3.4 mm.) more or less twice greatest breadth, 4
to 5 times greatest depth; usually a single process ossified; lateral
processes relatively small, cartilaginous or (in three specimens, 63094,
69453, 68019) with small ossifications; median process relatively small,
sometimes appressed to tip of shaft, in length less than 1/4 length of
stalk; posterior profile in dorsal view rounded, flattened posteriorly,
or in some specimens trilobate with angular edges; in end-view relative
depths of dorsal and ventral concavities variable, dorsal usually deeper
than ventral; distal end of stalk frequently bowed dorsally; shaft
slender distally, sometimes slightly inflated terminally, or (in one
specimen, 63085) near tip small lateral projections that are perhaps
fused lateral ossifications; lateral profile in dorsal view a gradual
slope anteriorly from point of greatest width to slender tip.
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