A New Subspecies of Wood Rat, by Ticul Alvarez

University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History

Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, Henry S. Fitch,
Theodore H. Eaton, Jr.

A New Subspecies of Wood Rat
(Neotoma) from Northeastern Mexico

TICUL ALVAREZ

The White-throated woodrat, Neotoma albigula, has been known previously from the Mexican state of Tamaulipas by only eight individuals reported by Goldman (N. Amer. Fauna, 31:37, October 19, 1910), which were assigned to Neotoma albigula leucodon (type locality, city of San Luis Potosí, México). Additional specimens from southwestern Tamaulipas, obtained in recent years by representatives of the Museum of Natural History, along with specimens from parts of Nuevo León and Coahuila, represent an unnamed subspecies, which is named and described as follows:

Type.—Male, adult, skin and skull, No. 56950, Museum of Natural History, The University of Kansas, from Miquihuana, 6400 ft., Tamaulipas; obtained on July 20, 1953, by Gerd H. Heinrich, original number 7553B.

Geographic distribution.—Sierra Madre Oriental from southeastern Coahuila to southwestern Tamaulipas.

Diagnosis.—Over-all size small for species (see measurements), but tail, maxillary tooth-row and incisive foramina relatively long; upper parts dark (individual hairs banded subterminally with cinnamon and tipped with grayish, yielding an over-all color of grayish brown); lips gray, especially anteriorly and medially; alveoli of incisors narrow (4.8-5.2); posterior branch of premaxilla extending only slightly behind nasals; rostrum short; braincase broad; mastoid breadth averaging 51.1 (47.8-52.7) per cent of basilar length.

Comparisons.—Neotoma albigula subsolana, differs from topotypes of N. a. leucodon, the subspecies geographically adjacent to the southwest, as follows: size smaller, especially length of palatal bridge (6.9-8.1 instead of 8.2-9.6), alveolar length of maxillary tooth-row (8.3-8.9 instead of 8.8-9.7), and greatest length of auditory bulla (7.3-7.9 instead of 8.2-8.9); mastoid breadth relatively greater, 51.1 (47.8-52.7) instead of 47.0 (45.5-49.1) per cent of basilar length; posterior process of premaxilla extending only slightly beyond posterior border of nasals; auditory bulla conspicuously smaller; upper parts darker, especially middorsally; over-all color grayish instead of ochraceous or yellowish; lips gray instead of nearly white.

Neotoma albigula subsolana differs from N. a. albigula, geographically adjacent to the northwest (specimens from Pima County, Arizona) as follows: size averaging slightly larger, except length of nasals; mastoid breadth averaging 18.8 (17.9-20.2) instead of 17.9 (17.7-18.2), its ratio to basilar length therefore greater, 51.1 (47.8-52.7) instead of 49.4 (47.9-50.0); zygomatic[142] arches expanded posteriorly instead of nearly parallel as in albigula; interparietal longer and narrower; mesopterygoid fossa broader; auditory bulla slightly smaller; upper parts distinctly darker.

Remarks.—N. a. subsolana is characterized by the combination of small size, dark color, small auditory bulla and relatively broad braincase. Typical specimens have been collected only at higher elevations in the Sierra Madre Oriental where no other species of Neotoma is known to occur.

Intergradation between N. a. subsolana and N. a. leucodon occurs at lower elevations on the west side of the Sierra Madre Oriental as shown by specimens from nine miles southwest of Tula, Tamaulipas, and Sierra Guadalupe, Coahuila, from which places some specimens are paler than others, approaching leucodon in color, and are slightly larger than typical subsolana. Specimens assigned to leucodon from vicinity of Presa Guadalupe and from 1 to 6 kilometers south of Matehuala, San Luis Potosí, are typical of that subspecies in measurements but are darker than topotypes.

N. a. subsolana intergrades with N. a. albigula in southeastern Coahuila (specimens from 6 to 9 miles east of Hermanas and from Panuco) where some individuals average paler and smaller than topotypes of subsolana and some have skulls that combine characters of subsolana and albigula. These specimens, which were referred to N. a. leucodon by Baker (Univ. Kansas Publ., Mus. Nat. Hist., 9:281-282, June 15, 1956), are assigned to subsolana on the basis of relatively dark upperparts and broad mesopterygoid fossa (narrow in only one specimen).

On geographic grounds, specimens not studied by me from Municipio de Galeana, Nuevo León (Koestner, Great Basin Nat., 2:13, 1941), and those from Jaumave, Tamaulipas (Goldman, N. Amer. Fauna, 31:37, October 19, 1910), probably are referable to N. a. subsolana.

The subspecific name subsolana (Latin adjective for eastern) is proposed for this woodrat because of its eastern geographic occurrence.

Specimens examined.—A total of 124 (all from Mus. Nat. Hist., Univ. Kansas) from: COAHUILA: 6 mi. E Hermanas, 1; 9 mi. E Hermanas, 1; Panuco, 3000 ft., 4; 1 mi. S, 4 mi. W Bella Unión, 7000 ft., 3; 3 mi. S, 3 mi. E Bella Unión, 6750 ft., 1; 6 mi. E, 4 mi. S Saltillo, 7500 ft., 5; 7 mi. S, 4 mi. E Bella Unión, 7200 ft., 3; 14 mi. W, 1 mi. N San Antonio de las Alazanas, 6500 ft., 2; 12 mi. S, 2 mi. E Arteaga, 7500 ft., 5; north slope Sierra Guadalupe, 10 mi. S, 5 mi. W General Cepeda, 6500 ft., 26; 7 mi. S, 1 mi. E Gómez Farías, 6500 ft., 3; 8 mi. N La Ventura, 5500 ft., 1. NUEVO LEON: Iturbide, Sierra Madre Oriental, 5000 ft., 10; Laguna, 1; 9 mi. S Aramberri, 3900 ft., 3; 1 mi. W Doctor Arroyo, 5800 ft., 4. TAMAULIPAS: Miquihuana, 6400 ft., 22; Joya Verde, 35 km. SW Cd. Victoria (on Jaumave Road), 3800 ft., 2; Nicolás, 56 km. NW Tula, 5500 ft., 10; Tajada, 23 mi. NW Tula, 5200 ft., 2; 9 mi. SW Tula, 3900 ft., 15.

Comparative material.—N. a. albigula, 10 specimens (all KU) from: ARIZONA: 4 mi. S, 5 mi. E Continental, 4; 7 mi. E Tucson, 2500 ft., 1; 30 mi. S Tucson, 1; 14 mi. S, 3 mi. E Continental, 1; Sta. Catalina Mts., south slope Molino basin, 4200 ft., 2; Santa Rita Mts., northwest slope, near Sta. Rita Range, 4300 ft., 1.

N. a. leucodon, 46 specimens (in Mus. Nat. Hist., Univ. Kansas, unless otherwise noted) from: SAN LUIS POTOSI: 6 km. S Matehuala, 13 (LSU); 1 km. S Matehuala, 2 (LSU); 7 km. W Presa de Guadalupe, 5 (LSU); Presa de Guadalupe, 4 (LSU); 8 mi. SW Ramos, 6700 ft., 3; 10 mi. NE San Luis Potosí, 6000 ft., 2; San Luis Potosí, 9 (USNM); Hda. La Parada, 8 (USNM).

I am grateful to Prof. E. Raymond Hall and Mr. J. Knox Jones, Jr., for permission to examine critical specimens and for helpful suggestions. I am grateful also to Dr. George H. Lowery, Jr., of the Louisiana State University (LSU) and to Dr. David H. Johnson and Dr. Richard H. Manville of the United States National Museum (USNM) for the loan of specimens. Gerd H. Heinrich (in 1953) and Percy L. Clifton (in 1961) collected for the Museum of Natural History the Tamaulipan specimens herein reported. Fieldwork was supported by the Kansas University Endowment Association. Laboratory phases of the study were made when the author was a half-time Research Assistant supported by grant No. 56 G 103 from the National Science Foundation.

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The Project Gutenberg eBook of A New Species of Wood Rat (Neotoma) from Northeastern Mexico

A New Subspecies of Wood Rat
(Neotoma) from Northeastern Mexico

BY

TICUL ALVAREZ

A New Subspecies of Wood Rat
(Neotoma) from Northeastern Mexico

BY

TICUL ALVAREZ

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The Project Gutenberg eBook of A New Species of Wood Rat (Neotoma) from Northeastern Mexico

A New Subspecies of Wood Rat (Neotoma) from Northeastern Mexico

BY

TICUL ALVAREZ

A New Subspecies of Wood Rat (Neotoma) from Northeastern Mexico

BY

TICUL ALVAREZ

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

A New Subspecies of Wood Rat
(Neotoma) from Northeastern Mexico

A New Subspecies of Wood Rat
(Neotoma) from Northeastern Mexico