Part 1

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UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Volume 12, No. 7, pp. 309-345, pls. 5-8.

June 18, 1962

Vertebrates from the Barrier Island of Tamaulipas, Mexico

BY ROBERT K. SELANDER, RICHARD F. JOHNSTON, B. J. WILKS, AND GERALD G. RAUN

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAWRENCE 1962

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Volume 12, No. 7, pp. 309-345, pls. 5-8.

June 18, 1962

Vertebrates from the Barrier Island of Tamaulipas, Mexico

ROBERT K. SELANDER, RICHARD F. JOHNSTON, B. J. WILKS, AND GERALD G. RAUN

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAWRENCE 1962

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

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

Volume 12, No. 7, pp. 309-345 Published June 18, 1962

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Lawrence, Kansas

PRINTED BY JEAN M. NEIBARGER, STATE PRINTER TOPEKA, KANSAS 1962

29-3002

Vertebrates from the Barrier Island of Tamaulipas, Mexico

ROBERT K. SELANDER, RICHARD F. JOHNSTON, B. J. WILKS, and GERALD G. RAUN

Lying between the Gulf of Mexico and the Laguna Madre de Tamaulipas is a narrow barrier island extending from the delta of the Rio Grande south for 140 miles to within 185 miles of Tampico, Tamaulipas (Plate 5). This island, like most of coastal Tamaulipas, has been all but neglected by zoological collectors. Consequently, little is known of the kinds, distribution, and seasonal status of the vertebrates occurring there. The present paper is a report on land vertebrates collected and observed on the northern part of the barrier island of Tamaulipas from July 6 to 10, 1961. Our collection, which has been deposited in the Museum of Natural History, The University of Kansas, consists of 63 reptiles, 33 mammals, and 97 birds (58 skins, 19 skeletons, and 20 alcoholics).

Acknowledgments

We are especially indebted to Dr. Charles H. Simpson of Sinton, Texas, who generously placed at our disposal his truck, a four-wheel drive "Land Rover," without which travel on the island would have been difficult. We also acknowledge a loan of field equipment provided by Dr. Clarence Cottam, Director of the Welder Wildlife Research Foundation, Sinton, Texas.

Financial support for the present research was provided by grants from the National Science Foundation to The University of Texas (G 15882) and to The University of Kansas (G 10043).

Permits to collect vertebrates in Mexico were supplied by Ing. Luis Macias Arellano, El Director General, Departamento de Conservacion de la Fauna Silves, Mexico, D. F.

We are indebted to Dr. Richard H. Manville for arranging a loan of specimens of Geomys personatus tropicalis in the United States National Museum. Dr. Marshall Johnston kindly identified specimens of plants from the barrier island. Several bones of birds and mammals were identified by Dr. Pierce Brodkorb and Dr. E. L. Lundelius. Mr. J. Knox Jones identified some of the mammalian material, and Dr. W. E. Duellman verified the identifications of the lizards; we thank all of these men for their willing assistance.

The Ecological Setting