University of Kansas Publications
Museum of Natural History
Volume 7, No. 11, pp. 587-590
November 15, 1954
BY
E. RAYMOND HALL
University of Kansas
Lawrence
1954
University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History
Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, A. Byron Leonard, Robert W. Wilson
Volume 7, No. 11, pp. 587-590
Published November 15, 1954
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
PRINTED BY
FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER
TOPEKA, KANSAS
1954
25-5678
by
E. Raymond Hall
When preparing distribution maps for a revised list of the Mammalsof Kansas it became apparent to me that pocket mice of thespecies Perognathus flavescens from south-central Kansas and adjoiningparts of Oklahoma were without a subspecific name. Thenew subspecies is named and described below.
Perognathus flavescens cockrumi new subspecies
Holotype.—Female, subadult (P4 moderately worn), skin with skull, No.13045, Univ. Kansas Mus. Nat. Hist.; 4-1/2 mi. NE Danville, Harper Co., Kansas;December 1, 1939; obtained by Sam Tihen; original No. 99 of J. A. Tihen.
Range.—South-central Kansas south at least into Dewey County, Oklahoma.
Diagnosis.—Size small; upper parts Ochraceous-Buff (capitalized color termsafter Ridgway, Color Standards and Color Nomenclature, Washington, D. C.,1912) heavily suffused with black; postauricular patches and a band 8 mmwide on each side Ochraceous-Buff; subauricular spot, underparts, and forefeetwhite; hind feet slightly dusky; tail brownish above and white below.Skull small; tympanic bullae small; rostrum wide; skull indistinguishable fromthat of P. f. flavescens from the same latitude in western Kansas.
Comparisons.—Perognathus flavescens cockrumi averages approximately 12per cent smaller in linear measurements than the more northern Perognathusflavescens perniger Osgood (from Knox, Stanton and Cumming counties, Nebraska)but color of upper parts is essentially the same. From the more westernPerognathus flavescens flavescens Merriam (from Seward, Hamilton and Mortoncounties, Kansas), cockrumi differs in being darker in all parts of the pelageexcept on the underparts which are white in both subspecies; the parts of thehairs that are Ochraceous-Buff in cockrumi are Light Ochraceous-Buff in flavescens;the back of cockrumi is blackish instead of yellowish. From the moresouthern Perognathus flavescens copei Rhoads (topotypes examined but not athand as I write), cockrumi differs in duller more blackish (less bright and lessreddish) upper parts. From Perognathus merriami gilvus, of more southerndistribution, the new subspecies differs in much smaller tympanic bullae andwider rostrum.
Measurements.—The type, a male (35331/47596 U.S.B.S., from Cairo,Kansas, showing some wear on P4), and another male (60165 K. U., fromBarber Co., Kansas, showing much wear on P4) measure, respectively: Totallength, 114, 120, 124; tail, 51, 55, 58; hind foot, 17, 17, 18; occipitonasallength,——, 21.0,