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
_Remarks._--_Thomomys bottae centralis_ has one of the most extensive
ranges of any of the known races of _T. bottae_. The eastern limits
extend into extreme western Utah. Specimens from Utah for the most part
are intergrades between _centralis_ and _aureiventris_, the race to the
north. Some minor intergradation is also noted between _centralis_ and
_sevieri_ and _bonnevillei_, the races to the east. Intergradation is
the expected condition because the animals belonging to _centralis_ are
at the extremes of their range in this area. The greater affinities of
these animals with _aureiventris_ is to be expected because both
_aureiventris_ and _centralis_ are forms of the western mainland of the
Pleistocene Lake Bonneville; while the races to the east, although
closest geographically, were isolated from the gophers of the western
mainland during prehistoric times by this lake. They are still isolated
and enough time has elapsed so that only vestiges of morphological
intergradation exist between _centralis_ and these eastern forms. Two
specimens from Cedar City, Iron County, are intergrades between
_Thomomys bottae wahwahensis_, _centralis_ and _planirostris_. Their
skulls are slightly convex as in _planirostris_, and the rostrum is
short and wide as in _wahwahensis_. In shape of the zygomatic arches,
length of the nasals, and color, they resemble _centralis_ to which
they are here referred.
_Specimens examined._--Total, 49, distributed as follows:
_Millard County_: 1 mi. SE Gandy, 5,000 ft., 15 (M. V. Z.);
White Valley (Tule Spring), 60 mi. W Delta, 4, (3 in R. W.
Fautin Vertebrate Collection); Robison Ranch, 5,300 ft., (on
Hendry Creek) Simonsons Ranch, 4,596 ft., 2 (M. V. Z.); 1
mi. E Garrison, 5,000 ft., 21; 5 mi. S Garrison, 5,400 ft.,
5 (M. V. Z.). _Iron County_: Cedar City, 2 (M. V. Z.).
=Thomomys bottae sevieri= new subspecies
_Type._--Female, adult, skin and skull, No. 2530, Museum of Zooelogy,
University of Utah; Swasey Spring, House Mountains, 6,500 ft., Millard
County, Utah; May 16, 1938; collected by S. D. Durrant; original number
1380.
_Range._--Known only from the type locality.
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