Part 20

Los Angeles County Museum.

American Museum of Natural History.

=Baiomys taylori taylori= (Thomas)

Hesperomys (Vesperimus) taylori Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 5, 19:66, January, 1887.

Baiomys taylori [taylori], Mearns, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 56:381, April 13, 1907; Stickel and Stickel, Jour. Mamm., 30:141, May 23, 1949.

Baiomys taylori taylori, Miller, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 79:136, December 31, 1912; Miller, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 128:317, April 29, 1924; Anthony, Field Book of North American Mammals, p. 327, 1928; Ellerman, The Families and Genera of Living Rodents, 2:402, March 21, 1941; Taylor and Davis, Texas Game, Fish and Oyster Comm. Bull., 27:56, August, 1947 (part); Blair, Texas Jour. Sci., 2:104, March 31, 1950; Goldman, Smith. Miscl. Coll., 115:373, 426, July 31, 1951; Baker, Univ. Kansas Publs., Mus. Nat. Hist., 5:212, December 15, 1951; Blair, Texas Jour. Sci., 4:242, June 30, 1952; Hooper, Occas. Papers, Univ. Michigan, Mus. Zool., 544:7, March 25, 1953; Dalquest, Louisiana State Univ. Studies (Biol. Sci. Ser.), 1:155, December 28, 1953 (part); Blair, Adv. in Genetics, 5:10, January 27, 1954; Miller and Kellogg, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 205:511, March 3, 1955; Baker, Univ. Kansas Publs., Mus. Nat. Hist., 9:273, June 15, 1956; Packard, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 71:17, April 11, 1958; Hall and Kelson, The Mammals of North America, 2:659, March 31, 1959 (part).

Cricetus (Vesperimus) taylori, Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 68:446, November 20, 1888.

Sitomys taylori, Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 7:170, September 29, 1892.

Sitomys (Baiomys) taylori, True, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 16(972):758, February 7, 1894; J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 6:181, May 31, 1894.

S. [itomys] taylori, Rhoads, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 46:256, October, 1894.

Peromyscus (Baiomys) taylori, J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 8:65, April 22, 1896.

Peromyscus taylori [taylori], Elliot, Field Columb. Mus. Publ., 105(4):135, July 1, 1905; V. Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, 25:101, October 24, 1905; Elliot, Field Columb. Mus. Publ., 115(8):203, 1907; Osgood, N. Amer. Fauna, 28:253, April 17, 1909.

Type.--Adult male, skin and skull; No. 87.11.24.1, British Museum, Natural History; San Diego, Duval County, Texas; obtained by William Taylor.

Range.--North-central to southeastern Texas, excluding the coastal plain north of the region of Matagorda Bay, thence south into the southern part of Tamaulipas and west into Coahuila and Nuevo Leon, see Figure 11. Occurs from near sea level in Texas up to 1500 feet in Coahuila. Zonal range: mostly Lower Austral (in Mexico and southeastern half of Texas, the Tamaulipas Biotic Province of Goldman and Moore, 1945:349, and Blair, 1952:230).

Diagnosis.--Size medium for the species; dorsum grayish in freshly taken specimens to Hair Brown in preserved specimens; individual guard hairs of dorsum black-tipped, grayish basally, underfur black-tipped with a subterminal band of olive-buff; sides of body pale-grayish near venter, individual hairs buffy proximally, grayish basally; belly pale grayish, individual hairs white-tipped, Pale Neutral Gray basally; throat and chin colored as is belly; forefeet and hind feet sooty-gray dorsally, sparsely-haired ventrally, thus appearing flesh-colored; tail unicolored gray to sooty-gray. Average and extreme cranial measurements of 22 adults from 6 mi. SW San Geronimo, Coahuila, are as follows: occipitonasal length, 18.0 (17.4-19.0); zygomatic breadth, 9.6 (9.2-10.2); postpalatal length, 6.5 (5.9-7.1); least interorbital breadth, 3.6 (3.3-3.8); length of incisive foramina, 4.0 (3.6-4.3); length of rostrum, 6.1 (5.7-6.7); breadth of brain case, 8.8 (8.5-9.1); depth of cranium, 6.5 (6.0-7.0); alveolar length of maxillary tooth-row, 3.1 (3.0-3.3). Average and extreme external measurements of 19 adults from 6 mi. SW San Geronimo are as follows: total length, 102.2 (95-115); length of tail vertebrae, 39.4 (21-46); length of body, 62.8 (53-76); length of hind foot, 14.0 (12-15); length of ear from notch, 10.7 (10-12); for photographs of skull, see Plate 2g, and Plate 4h.

Comparisons.--For comparisons with B. t. subater, B. t. analogous, and B. t. fuliginatus, see accounts of those subspecies. From B. t. paulus, found to the southwest, B. t. taylori differs as follows: dorsum grayish rather than fawn-colored; hairs on dorsal parts of forefeet and hind feet sooty-gray (not white to white-brown); venter gray to Light Drab-Gray, rather than whitish with gray overtones; tail unicolored instead of bicolored; skull averaging slightly larger over-all; maxillary part of zygoma forms right angle with rostrum rather than obtuse angle; incisive foramina extending posteriorly to anterior plane of first upper molars instead of to a transverse plane at middle of right and left first upper molars; bullae less inflated; interorbital region broader relative to length of skull; rostrum sloping gently from frontonasal suture to anterior tip of nasals rather than declining abruptly from frontonasal suture to anterior tip of nasals.

Remarks.--The geographic range of taylori is relatively large, and the subspecies is locally variable. Nevertheless, none of the external and cranial measurements of specimens assigned to this subspecies differs significantly from the corresponding measurements of material from the type locality and adjacent areas in southeastern Texas. In southeastern Texas, south of the Guadalupe River, south to the coastal plain of Tamaulipas, this subspecies differs in color (being paler) from B. t. subater with which taylori might be confused. The foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental in western Tamaulipas, north through Nuevo Leon and Coahuila, seem to mark the southwestern limit of the range assignable to taylori.

On December 27, 1958, a specimen, KU 81552, was obtained 3 mi. N Bowie, Montague County, Texas. This record station extends the known range of B. taylori 65 miles northward from the previous northernmost locality, listed by Hunsaker, Raun, and Swindells (1959:447). Two specimens, KU 81553 and 81554, were collected by the author 2 mi. NE Cedar Hill, Dallas County, Texas, on October 31, 1958. These two specimens, plus the single specimen from Bowie County are all paler with more buffy bellies than either B. t. taylori or B. t. subater. They may represent an incipient subspecies. I tentatively assign them to B. t. taylori because of the pale rather than dark (like B. t. subater) pelage. Additional specimens are needed from these areas and from the hiatus between the ranges of B. t. taylori and B. t. subater the better to understand the manner in which these two subspecies intergrade.

Among named subspecies of Baiomys taylori, B. t. taylori most closely resembles B. t. subater to the north in Texas. Nine specimens examined from Yoakum are intergrades between taylori and subater. These specimens have the sooty dorsal color of subater, but ventrally are inseparable from topotypes of taylori. In length of body and tail, specimens from Yoakum are like subater, but in length of hind foot, they are intermediate between the two subspecies. Cranially, they are like subater. When all characters are considered, the specimens are best referred to subater. Bailey (1905:103) suggested that specimens from the southern part of the range, which he ascribed to subater, tended to a more grayish color than topotypes of subater, therefore, grading into taylori. The zone of intergradation runs from Matagorda Bay northwest through Lavaca County, thence north to the Colorado River, and closely follows the boundary between the Lower Austral and Humid Division of Lower Austral Life-zone as plotted by Bailey (loc. cit.). Findley (1955:44) pointed out that where two life-zones meet, the resulting populations of shrews are mostly intergrades. Such is the case between these two subspecies of Baiomys taylori in an area where life-zones might seem less important than in the mountainous west.

In the southern part of the range of taylori, intergradation occurs between B. t. taylori in western Tamaulipas and B. t. fuliginatus in the mountains of San Luis Potosi.

Dalquest (1953:156) found no indication of intergradation between the two species, B. taylori and B. musculus, in San Luis Potosi. After examination of specimens from San Luis Potosi, I am in agreement that they are all referable to the species taylori.

Specimens examined.--Total 435. TEXAS: Montague County: 3 mi. N Bowie, 1. Dallas County: 2 mi. NE Cedar Hill, 2. Travis County: 8 mi. NW Austin, 2; Austin, 2; 4 mi. E Austin, 4; 5 mi. E Austin, 3; 6 mi. E Austin, 16, 1; 7 mi. E Austin, 1; 15 mi. E Austin, 1; 4 mi. S Austin, 1. Bastrop County: 25 mi. E Austin, 2. Kendall County: Boerne, 1. Bexar County: 1 mi. N Randolph Field, 3; 5 mi. ENE (on U. S. Highway 81) San Antonio, 1; 3 mi. NE San Antonio, 1; San Antonio, 26, 11, 1; 5 mi. E San Antonio, 11; 4-1/2 mi. E Sayers, 3. Gonzales County: 7 mi. S Luling, 2. Wilson County: 4 mi. W LaVernia, 3; 12 mi. W Floresville, 1. Atascosa County: 9 mi. SW Somerset, 1. Goliad County: 8 mi. NE Goliad, 1. Bee County: Beeville, 1. Aransas County: Aransas (Wildlife) Refuge, 1; 5 mi. E Copana Bay, 1; 4.6 mi. NE Rockport, 5; 4.5 mi. NW Rockport, 2; 3 mi. N, 2 mi. E Rockport, 4; Rockport, 1, 1, 1; 1-1/2 mi. SW Rockport, 1; 2 mi. SW Rockport, 2; 13.4 mi. SW Rockport, 1; 14 mi. SW Rockport, 1. San Patricio County: Welder Wildlife Refuge, 7. Duval County: type locality, 2, 1. Nueces County: Corpus Christi (south Nueces Bay), 1 (Cleveland Mus. Coll.). Kleberg County: 2 mi. S Riviera, 3. Brooks County: 3 mi. S Falfurrias, 2. Hidalgo County: 6 mi. S McAllen, 17. Willacy County: 28 mi. E Raymondville, 10. Cameron County: Brownsville, 31, 23, 5. COAHUILA: 6 mi. SW San Geronimo, 32. NUEVO LEON: Santa Catarina, 1; 14 mi. N Monterrey, 1950 ft., 2; Monterrey, 1; 20 km. N General Teran, 3. TAMAULIPAS: Near Headwaters Rio Sabinas, 8 km. W, 10 km. N El Encino, 400 ft., 1; Camargo, 5; Charco Escondido, 20 mi. S Reynosa, 3; Matomoras, 5; Ejido Santa Isabel, 2 km. W Inter-American Highway, 2000 ft., 7; Hidaglo, 7; Hda. Station Engracia, 4; 4 mi. N La Pesca, 1; 29 mi. N Ciudad Victoria, 1; Ciudad Victoria, 6, 3; Jaumave, 2400 ft., 6, 10; Sierra de Tamaulipas, 3; 25 mi. N El Mante, 3 km. W Inter-American Highway (on Rancho Pano Ayuctle), 300 ft., 4; 6 mi. N Gomez Farias (on Rancho Pano Ayuctle), 1; 5 mi. NE Gomez Farias, 12, 1; 70 km. (by highway) S Ciudad Victoria, 2 km. W El Carrizo, 5, 2; Antigua Morelos, 5; 6 mi. N, 6 mi. W Altamira, 31; 5 mi. N, 5 mi. W Altamira, 4; Alta Mira (Altamira), 2; 1 mi. S Altamira, 6; 10 mi. NW Tampico, 1. SAN LUIS POTOSI: Ebano, 5; 4 km. NE Ciudad Valles, 1; Ciudad Valles, 1; 3 km. W Tamuin, 1; Tamuin, 6; Pujal, 300 m., 1. VERACRUZ: Tampico Alto, 50 ft., 1; Potrero Llano, 350 ft., 1; Ozulama, 2; Cerro Azul, 350 ft., 1.

Marginal Records.--TEXAS: 3 mi. N Bowie; 2 mi. NE Cedar Hill; 25 mi. E Austin; 7 mi. S Luling; 8 mi. NE Goliad; Aransas (Wildlife) Refuge; 3 mi. N, 2 mi. E Rockport; Corpus Christi (South Nueces Bay); 2 mi. S Riviera; 28 mi. E Raymondville; Brownsville. TAMAULIPAS: Matomores; 4 mi. N La Pesca; 1 mi. S Altamira. VERACRUZ: Tampico Alto; Ozulama; Cerro Azul; Potrero Llano. SAN LUIS POTOSI: Ciudad Valles. TAMAULIPAS: Antigua Morelos; 70 km. S Ciudad Victoria, 2 km. W El Carrizo; Jaumave; Hidalgo. NUEVO LEON: 20 km. N General Teran; Santa Catarina. COAHUILA: 6 mi. SW San Geronimo. TEXAS: 9 mi. SW Somerset; Boerne; 8 mi. NW Austin.

Coll. University of Texas.

U. S. Nat. Museum (Biol. Surv. Coll.).

American Museum of Natural History.

Chicago Natural History Museum.

Univ. Michigan, Museum of Zoology.