Part 74

M. f. inyoensis as now known may be thought of as closely similar to M. f. nevadensis except for the presence of well-developed white facial markings like those found in the weasels of the San Joaquin Valley and coastal region of California south of San Francisco Bay. The nonwhite areas of the head are almost the same color as the back and not distinctly blackish as in M. f. latirostra and M. f. nigriauris. The one specimen in the winter coat, no. 25392/32805, U. S. Nat. Mus., from Lone Pine, is brown rather than white. The brown has the pale smoke-tinge common in the winter pelage of subspecies whose members are either brown or white in winter. The range of this subspecies is thought to include the floor and lower elevations of Owens Valley although it may occur in limited numbers southwestward along the base of the Sierra Nevada and through the mountains in places of low elevation like Walker Pass its range may meet that of pulchra.

The type specimen was taken in an alfalfa field by ranch hands, who, according to A. C. Shelton (MS), stated that the species was common at the type locality. None of the five specimens shows infestation of the frontal sinuses by parasites.

Specimens examined.--Total number, 5, listed by localities from north to south.

=California.= Inyo County: Alvord, 4000 ft., 1 (U. S. Nat. Mus.); 2 mi. N Independence, 1 (Mus. Vert. Zoöl.); Lone Pine, 3 (2 in Field Mus. Nat. Hist. and 1 in U. S. Nat. Mus.).

=Mustela frenata neomexicana= (Barber and Cockerell)

Long-tailed Weasel

Plates 1, 22, 23, 24, 34, 35 and 36

Putorius frenatus neomexicanus Barber and Cockerell, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1898:188; Lantz, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 19:178, 1905.

Mustela frenata neomexicana, Miller, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull., 79:100, December 31, 1912; Bailey, Animal Life of Carlsbad Cavern, p. 97, 1928; Hall, Carnegie Instit. Washington Publ. 473:108, November 20, 1936.

Mustela frenatus neomexicanus, Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, 35:19, September 5, 1913.

Type.--Male, adult, skull and skin; no. 10475, Mus. Comp. Zoöl.; Armstrong's Lake, Mesilla Park, Dona Ana County, New Mexico; February 1, 1898; obtained by A. C. Tryson; original no. 58 of C. M. Barber.

The skull is imperfectly cleaned but unbroken. The right upper incisors, right P2 and left p3 are broken away. The skin is indifferently stuffed but in a good state of preservation except that the distal part of the tail is missing. The animal's coat is ragged, and this imperfect appearance is heightened by injury to the posterior part of the body, probably at the time of capture.

Range.--From 3800 feet (type locality) to 9000 feet (Cloudcroft, N. Mex.); Upper Sonoran and Lower Sonoran life-zones of northern México, southeastern Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas, panhandle of Oklahoma, southeastern Colorado and southwestern Kansas. See figure 29 on page 221.

Characters for ready recognition.--Differs from M. f. frenata and M. f. texensis by Buckthorn Brown rather than Brussels Brown color of upper parts, mastoid breadth of adult males ordinarily more, rather than less, than postpalatal length; from M. f. leucoparia by Buckthorn Brown rather than Argus Brown color of upper parts, distance from anterior margin of tympanic bulla to foramen ovale less, rather than more, than four-fifths height of tympanic bulla; from M. f. arizonensis and M. f. nevadensis by Buckthorn Brown, rather than near (14 n) Brussels Brown or, in winter, white color of upper parts, in presence of white frontal spot continuous with color of underparts, in basilar length of more than 46 mm. in males and 40 mm. in females; from M. f. longicauda by Buckthorn Brown rather than near (h) Clay Color of upper parts, by presence of white facial markings on Argus Brown head, and by length of tooth-rows amounting to less than 37 per cent of basilar length; from M. f. primulina by Buckthorn Brown rather than Brussels Brown color of upper parts, in presence of white frontal spot and broad white bands on side of head, in anteriorly truncate rather than anterolaterally rounded bullae and zygomatic breadth of more than 30 in males and 24 in females.

Description.--Size.--Male: The type specimen (see Barber and Cockerell, 1898:188) measured: Total length, 500; length of tail, 205; length of hind foot, 50. Tail 70 per cent as long as head and body. Length of hind foot less than basal length.

Female: No. 21779 from Tombstone, Arizona, measured: Total length, 419; length of tail, 165; length of hind foot from dried skin, 41 (probably 43 in flesh). Tail 65 per cent as long as head and body. Length of hind foot less than basal length.

The average differences in external measurements of the two sexes, as known from these two individuals, are: Total length, 81; length of tail, 40; length of hind foot, 7.

Compared with M. f. frenata, the size, proportions of parts and difference in size of the two sexes, appears to be about the same.

Externals.--Longest facial vibrissae colored like upper parts [in the type specimen some of the "long bristles of the upper lip" are white as pointed out by Barber and Cockerell (op. cit.: 188)] and extending beyond ear; carpal vibrissae colored like underparts and extending to apical pad of fifth digit; hairiness of foot-soles as shown in figure 20.

Color.--Broad white bands on sides of head, extending anterodorsally anterior to each ear, confluent with white spot between eyes and with color of underparts; posterior half or all of each upper lip edged with white; usually few white hairs on top of head between ears; remainder of top of head near Argus Brown of Ridgway and Chocolate, tone 4, of Oberthür and Dauthenay; dark spot posterior to each angle of mouth usually absent; tip of tail black; remainder of upper parts varying, in different specimens, from Buckthorn Brown to Dresden Brown of Ridgway, and Brown Pink (tones 3 to 4, pl. 297, of Oberthür and Dauthenay); underparts Antimony Yellow or near (c) Warm Buff of Ridgway, and Brown Pink (tone 1, pl. 297, of Oberthür and Dauthenay); color of underparts extends distally on legs over forefeet and hind feet. Least width of color of underparts averaging 46 (41-55) per cent of greatest width of color of upper parts; black tip of tail 35 to 45 mm. long in females; 43 to 68 mm. long in males and averaging 21 (20-36) per cent as long as tail-vertebrae.

No specimen of this subspecies in the white winter coat has been seen. Animals taken in midwinter are available from Mesilla Park, Willcox, and 10 miles east of Roswell.

From M. f. frenata, neomexicana differs in: upper parts and underparts much lighter colored; white facial markings more extensive; color of underparts more extended onto feet. From M. f. leucoparia, neomexicana differs as follows: above and below, much lighter colored, but white facial markings less extensive and color of underparts less extended onto feet and legs.

Skull and teeth.--Male (based on adults: the type; no. 131582 from Berino, New Mexico; and no. 1485 from Seward Co., Kansas): See measurements and plates 22-24. As described in Mustela frenata frenata except that: Weight, 6.2 (4.9 and 7.5); basilar length, 49.3 (48 and 50.5); mastoid breadth more than postpalatal length; least width of palate less than length of P4; anterior margin of masseteric fossa directly below m2 or heel of ml.

Female (based on three adults): See measurements and plates 34-36. As described in Mustela frenata frenata except that: Weight, 3.1 (2.6-3.5) grams; basilar length, 42.7 (40.8-45.5); zygomatic breadth less than distance between condylar foramen and M1 and more or less than distance between anterior palatine foramen and anterior margin of tympanic bulla.

The skull of the female averages 50 per cent lighter than that of the male.

As compared with the skull of the male of M. f. frenata, that of neomexicana is decidedly more angular and ridged. The postorbital constriction is narrower, the mastoid breadth greater (it is less than the postpalatal length in some subadult males), the sagittal crest much higher with impressions of the temporal and masseter muscles carried farther forward on the frontals, rostrum shorter and tympanic bullae wider and more inflated. Similar, though less marked, differences exist between the females. As compared with M. f. leucoparia and perotae, the same differences as noted above between frenata and neomexicana exist. In addition the tympanic bullae are so far removed from the foramen ovale that the distance from the anterior end of each bulla to the foramen ovale, instead of being less than the height of tympanic bullae, is in leucoparia more than four-fifths this height and in perotae more than the entire height. Also, in perotae, the squamosal, anterior to each tympanic bulla, is ventrally convex rather than ventrally concave as in neomexicana. Compared with M. f. longicauda, neomexicana is relatively narrower in the interorbital region, has relatively shorter tooth-rows, a V-shaped rather than a U-shaped interpterygoid space and in males has the interorbital region flat rather than convex and the sagittal crest is higher. The same differences are to be noted in comparison with nevadensis but here the difference in relative length of tooth-row is less. The same differences exist also in comparison with M. f. arizonensis except that its interorbital breadth, relative to the rest of the skull, is about the same. Difference in size is especially marked here; even females of neomexicana average larger than males of arizonensis.

Remarks.--When Barber and Cockerell named this subspecies in 1898, they had three specimens. Only two others are known to have been taken before this time. These are a skeleton, without corresponding skin, taken at Lozier, Texas, in 1890 by Wm. Lloyd, and no. 21779/36482, U. S. Nat. Mus., taken on April 6, 1893, by R. D. Lusk at Tombstone, Arizona. On the back of a label recently attached to the last mentioned specimen the name C. K. Worthen appears and probably signifies that the specimen was purchased from this dealer in vertebrate specimens.

M. f. neomexicana has a large geographic range. The old male from Liberal, Seward County, Kansas, extends the known range far to the northeast. Geographically, this occurrence is logical for the southwestern desertlike conditions extend to this part of Kansas. Probably the subspecies occurs in southeastern Colorado and in the panhandle of Oklahoma where conditions are similar. Bailey (1905:198) lists neomexicana as a member of the mammalian fauna of Texas. As stated by him (loc. cit.:198) this inclusion is based on geographic grounds and not on actual specimens. Strecker (1926:13) also includes neomexicana in his list of Texas mammals but writes me, under date of January 9, 1928, that "I included Mustela frenata neomexicana as a Texas mammal on the strength of its being mentioned by Bailey. . . ." On better ground, Bailey (1928:97) lists the subspecies as occurring in southeastern New Mexico at Carlsbad Cavern. However, Bailey (loc. cit.) knew of the existence of weasels just below El Paso and at Langtry, Texas. An unsexed skeleton, no. 167891, in the United States National Museum, from Lozier, Texas, is not certainly identifiable to subspecies. If, as I think, the animal is a female, its skull is intermediate between that of frenata and neomexicana although when all features are considered it is seen to be nearest the latter. The large size (basilar length of 46.5 mm.) may reflect some relationship to texensis. The field notes of the collector furnished me by Dr. H. H. T. Jackson (MS), describe the color as brownish yellow above and sulphur below. The admission of this subspecies to the list of mammals of Texas is made certain by the female (no. 1572, Texas Cooperative Research Collection) taken on July 28, 1940, 1-1/2 mi. NW Kent, Texas, by C. E. Scull.