Vertebrates from the Barrier Island of Tamaulipas, MéxicoJohnston, Richard F.
Science
Vertebrates from the Barrier Island of Tamaulipas, México
Johnston, Richard F.
Vertebrates -- Mexico
In their extensive travels through México, E. W. Nelson and E. A.
Goldman made collections at three localities in the coastal region of
Tamaulipas but did not reach the barrier island (Goldman, 1951).
Goldman collected at Altamira, near Tampico, from April 2 to 24, 1898,
and from May 15 to 20 of the same year both he and Nelson made
headquarters at Altamira. Nelson and Goldman also collected in the
vicinity of Soto la Marina, 25 miles from the coast, from March 1 to
10, 1902, and, from February 13 to 15, they visited Bagdad, described
by Goldman (1951:260) as "a village at very low elevation on the Río
Grande about 6 miles above the mouth of the river."
In March, 1950, C. von Wedel and E. R. Hall collected four species of
mammals and one bird on the barrier island at Boca Jésus María (Eighth
Pass). A report of this work published by Hall (1951) contains
descriptions of three new subspecies of mammals from the island.
A few records of birds from the southern end of the barrier island and
from other parts of coastal Tamaulipas were reported by Robins, Martin,
and Heed (1951). In 1953, R. R. Graber and J. W. Graber made
ornithological studies in the vicinity of Tampico and also reached the
western edge of the Laguna Madre de Tamaulipas. Several papers on this
work have appeared (Graber and Graber, 1954_a_, 1954_b_; Graber, 1955),
but a comprehensive account of their observations and specimens was not
published. Finally, J. R. Alcorn collected some sandpipers 20 miles
southeast of Matamoros, on August 21, 1954, obtaining the first record
of the Semipalmated Sandpiper (_Ereunetes pusillus_) in Tamaulipas
(Thompson, 1958).
Accounts of Species
Catalogue numbers in the following accounts are those of the Museum of
Natural History, The University of Kansas.
_Reptiles_
=_Gopherus berlandieri_= Agassiz: Texas Tortoise.--A pelvic girdle and
complete shell with a few attached scutes (63494) were found in
stabilized dunes at Camp 1 on July 7, and tracks were seen in the same
area. Fragments of two other shells (63493, 63495) were found on sand
flats between active dunes at Camp 1.
=_Holbrookia propinqua propinqua_= Baird and Girard: Keeled Earless
Lizard.--This lizard was abundant on dunes and in pebble-strewn
blow-out areas between dunes at Camp 2, but it occurred in smaller
numbers in the less stabilized dunes of sparser vegetation at Camp 1.
Breeding was in progress at both localities, as evidenced by the
presence of eggs in the oviducts of several females, by the heightened
coloration of both sexes, and by mating behavior.
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