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
The remaining forms from the Bonneville Basin, namely, _Thomomys bottae
sevieri_, _convexus_, _tivius_ and _stansburyi_ are all easily
distinguished from _robustus_. Specimens of _sevieri_ are paler,
smaller in every measurement taken, and the skulls are weaker and less
angular. All specimens of _convexus_ are paler, the skulls are more
convex dorsally and narrower, with less ridging and angularity. Both
_tivius_ and _stansburyi_ are small dark forms, with weak, smooth,
small skulls as compared with _robustus_ which is light colored and has
compact, ridged and angular skulls.
_Remarks._--Twenty-three specimens were obtained at a small isolated
spring. Critical study of animals taken only a few miles to the east
prove them to be so different as to be referable to another subspecies,
_albicaudatus_. _T. b. robustus_ is an endemic form in this desert
valley. The variable color is noteworthy but difficult to explain in an
isolated population as small as this one. All five of the gray animals
are females of which four are lactating adults. The affinities of this
subspecies are with _albicaudatus_ to the east, but enough time has
elapsed since isolation to enable them to differentiate.
_Specimens examined._--Total, 23, from the type locality.
=Thomomys bottae minimus= Durrant
_Thomomys bottae minimus_ Durrant, Proc. Biol. Soc.
Washington, 52:161, October 11, 1939; Marshall, Journ.
Mamm., 21:154, May 14, 1940.
_Type._--Male, adult, skin and skull, No. 263942, U. S. National Museum
(Biological Surveys Collection); Stansbury Island, Great Salt Lake,
Tooele County, Utah; June 25, 1938; collected by William H. Marshall;
original number 141.
_Range._--Known only from the type locality.
_Diagnosis._--Size small (see measurements); tail relatively long.
Color: Upper parts Pinkish Buff, darker on head; underparts Pale
Pinkish Buff; front and hind feet white; nose, chin and postauricular
patches black. Skull: Long, slender and nearly devoid of ridges;
braincase moderately inflated; interparietal quadrangular; zygomatic
arches weak, widest in temporal region, but neither widely spreading
nor angular; nasals straight and truncate posteriorly; extension of
premaxillae posterior to nasals relatively great; tympanic bullae
moderately inflated; palatal pits deep; rostrum short but narrow;
interpterygoid space moderately lyre-shaped; upper incisors narrow;
molars light.
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