Two New Moles (Genus Scalopus) from Mexico and Texas

BY ROLLIN H. BAKER University of Kansas Publications Museum of Natural History Volume 5, No. 2, pp. 17-24 February 28, 1951 University of Kansas LAWRENCE 1951
University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, Edward H. Taylor, A. Byron Leonard, Robert W. Wilson Volume 5, No. 2, pp. 17-24 February 28, 1951 University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas PRINTED BY FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER TOPEKA, KANSAS 1951 23-6626

BY ROLLIN H. BAKER
In the spring of 1950, a field party from the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History including J. R. Alcorn, W. J. Schaldach, Jr., George Newton, and the author collected mammals in the Mexican state of Coahuila. A few days were spent in the Sierra del Carmen. One morning when examining sets for pocket gophers in these mountains, Alcorn found a mole caught in one of the traps. Subsequent examination discloses that this specimen belongs to a heretofore unknown species which may be named and described as follows:
Scalopus montanus new species
Type. —Male, adult, skin and skull plus body skeleton; no. 35668, Univ. Kansas Mus. Nat. Hist.; Club Sierra del Carmen, 2 mi. N and 6 mi. W Piedra Blanca, Coahuila, Mexico; 7 April 1950; obtained by J. R. Alcorn, original no. 11093.
Range. —Known only from the type locality; probably found in other localities in the Sierra del Carmen of northern Coahuila, Mexico.
Diagnosis. —Size medium and slender for the genus (see measurements); tail medium in length, sparsely covered with whitish hairs; claws of forefeet slender; upper parts near (h) Buffy Brown (capitalized color terms after Ridgway, Color Standards and Color Nomenclature, Washington, D. C., 1912), with slight rufous wash on top of head; underparts resemble upper parts but slightly paler with longitudinal band of near (14) Sudan Brown extending from chin posteriorly to and around base of tail, less intense on breast; skull small, arched, and relatively slender especially across mastoidal region; posterior part of cranium depressed; foramen magnum low when viewed from rear; external pterygoid region not greatly expanded; teeth small, especially upper third molar.