Four New Pocket Gophers of the Genus Cratogeomys from Jalisco, Mexico

BY ROBERT J. RUSSELL University of Kansas Publications Museum of Natural History Volume 5, No. 31, pp. 535-542 October 15, 1953 University of Kansas LAWRENCE 1953
University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, A. Byron Leonard, and Robert W. Wilson Volume 5, No. 31, pp. 535-542 October 15, 1953 University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas PRINTED BY FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER TOPEKA, KANSAS 1953 24-8662

By ROBERT J. RUSSELL
In the course of my taxonomic study of the genus Cratogeomys , a high degree of variation was found between several populations of these gophers in central Jalisco. Two species, C. gymnurus and C. zinseri , occur in this part of the state. Previously C. gymnurus was known only from southern Jalisco and C. zinseri only from extreme eastern Jalisco, but through the efforts of J. R. Alcorn specimens were obtained of both species in the central part of the state. These large gophers are difficult to collect, and I am grateful to him for securing this significant material. Costs of the field work were defrayed by the National Science Foundation and the Kansas University Endowment Association. Thanks are due also to those in charge of the United States Biological Surveys Collection for the loan of comparative material. Study of the recently acquired specimens taken in central Jalisco reveals two undescribed subspecies each of C. gymnurus and C. zinseri . These may be known and described as
Type. —Female, adult, skull and skin, No. 33454 Mus. Nat. Hist., Univ. Kansas; from 3 mi. W Tala, 4300 ft., Jalisco, México; obtained on June 2, 1949, by J. R. Alcorn, original No. 9376.
Range. —North-central Jalisco; known from several localities in the vicinity of Tala.
Diagnosis. —Size large (see measurements); tail long, naked; hind foot small; color pale for species, upper parts Kaiser Brown (capitalized terms are of Ridgway, Color Standards and Color Nomenclature, Washington, D. C., 1912), bases of individual hairs Plumbeous, tips Hazel, underparts creamy-white, bases of hairs Plumbeous; skull large, relatively narrow, rugose; zygomatic breadth narrower posteriorly than anteriorly; rostrum shallow, relatively broad in males, narrower in females; interorbital region broad; braincase narrow and flattened; basioccipital relatively wide, especially anteriorly; mastoid processes of squamosal large, knoblike; paroccipital processes long, extending laterally over more than half the width of mastoid bullae; upper incisors projecting anteriorly; maxillary teeth relatively large.