Vertebrates from the Barrier Island of Tamaulipas, México — John Shaqi
Vertebrates from the Barrier Island of Tamaulipas, MéxicoJohnston, Richard F.
Science
Vertebrates from the Barrier Island of Tamaulipas, México
Johnston, Richard F.
Vertebrates -- Mexico
=_Spermophilus spilosoma annectens_= (Merriam): Spotted Ground
Squirrel.--These squirrels were moderately common in dunes at both
camps. They were heard calling, and many tracks and holes were seen. On
July 7, at Camp 1, a lactating, adult female (89020) and two dependent
juveniles (89021, skull only, 89022, skin and skull) were shot at the
entrance of a burrow; the uterus of the adult showed six placental
scars.
Our adult specimen has been compared with ten specimens obtained by
Hall and von Wedel at Eighth Pass in March, 1950; ours differs from the
ten in being paler and slightly larger. The pallor is perhaps
attributable to seasonal variation, and the size (246-79-38-7; weight,
133 gm.) is within limits that would be expected in a larger series of
the population sampled by Hall and von Wedel. Hall (1951:38) referred
specimens of this squirrel from Eighth Pass to _S. s. annectens_.
=_Geomys personatus personatus_= True: Texas Pocket Gopher.--This
pocket gopher was abundant on low, stabilized dunes on the barrier
island from four to 73 miles south of Washington Beach. One of us
(Wilks) made a trip down the beach on May 20 and 21, 1961, and
collected specimens at localities four miles south and 33 miles south
of Washington Beach; additional specimens were taken at both Camp 1 and
Camp 2 from July 6 to 10. At these localities the gophers seemed to
maintain population densities approximating those of _G. personatus_
on Padre and Mustang islands on the Texan coast.
There is but one other record of the Texas Pocket Gopher from México.
Goldman (1915) described _G. p. tropicalis_ from Altamira on the basis
of specimens collected in 1898. Since that time, the species has not
been reported as occurring south of Cameron County, Texas (Kennerly,
1954), some 50 miles northwest of the closest station of occurrence of
the gophers on the barrier beach of Tamaulipas.
Our specimens are slightly smaller than _G. p. personatus_ and slightly
larger than _G. p. megapotamus_, the subspecies of nearest geographic
occurrence to the barrier island. The degree to which our specimens
differ in other respects, such as configuration of the pterygoid, is
being studied further by Wilks. For the present, reference of our
material to the nominate subspecies best expresses the relationships of
these coastal gophers.
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