The Pocket Gophers (Genus Thomomys) of Utah: University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History, Vol. 1 No. 1 — John Shaqi
The Pocket Gophers (Genus Thomomys) of Utah: University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History, Vol. 1 No. 1Durrant, Stephen David
Science
The Pocket Gophers (Genus Thomomys) of Utah: University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History, Vol. 1 No. 1
Durrant, Stephen David
Pocket gophers -- Utah
_Diagnosis._--Size medium (see measurements); tail short; hind foot
short. Color: In a series of 24 animals, upper parts vary from Pale
Smoke Gray (4 specimens) through Cinnamon Buff (19 specimens) to Dark
Mouse Gray (1 specimen). The Cinnamon Buff color is considered to be
typical. Color grading to lighter on underparts; postauricular patches
small and grayish black; front and hind feet and distal part of tail
white. Skull: Small, flat and heavily ridged; nasals short; zygomatic
arches heavy and widely spreading, widest posteriorly at union of jugal
and squamosal; union of jugal and zygomatic process of maxilla
thickened, with a ventrally directed spinous process in sixty percent
of the specimens; occasionally there is a second process, also directed
ventrally at union of jugal and zygomatic process of squamosal;
zygomatic arches convex dorsally; deep dorsal depression present in
frontal bones in mature specimens; lacrimal processes prominent,
projecting well above the arch at the anteromedial angle of the orbit;
interpterygoid spaces V-shaped; tympanic bullae well inflated
ventrally; upper incisors short, and pale; when placed on a flat plane
the dorsal surface of the skull is nearly parallel to the substratum;
space enclosed within the zygomatic arches nearly quadrangular.
_Comparisons._--From topotypes of _Thomomys bottae aureiventris_,
_robustus_ can be distinguished as follows: Size smaller; tail and hind
foot shorter. Color: Lighter throughout. Skull: Smaller, more heavily
ridged and more nearly flat; nasals shorter; rostrum relatively wider
and shorter; zygomatic arches shorter and relatively more widely
spreading with greatest width posteriorly as opposed to anteriorly;
junction of jugal and zygomatic process of maxilla not as prominent;
_aureiventris_ shows no spinous process at this junction; lacrimal
processes larger and projecting farther dorsally; enclosed space within
zygomatic arches roughly quadrangular as opposed to triangular;
mastoidal part of tympanic bullae less exposed; sphenorbital fissure
smaller; interpterygoid space V-shaped rather than lyre-shaped; palatal
pits smaller and shallower; tympanic bullae smaller, but more inflated
ventrally; basioccipital averaging relatively wider; molars smaller;
upper incisors shorter, smaller and cadmium yellow as opposed to orange
yellow.
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