Geomys bursarius major Davis
Geomys lutescens major Davis, Texas Agric. Exp. St., Bull. no. 590:32, August, 1940; Hibbard, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 47:75, 1944.
Geomys lutescens Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 8:129, January 31, 1895.
Geomys breviceps llanensis, Lantz, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 20 (pt. 2): 215, 1907; Hibbard, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 36:240, 1933; Black, 30th Bienn. Rept. Kansas State Board Agric., 35:182, 1937; Swenk, Missouri Valley Fauna, 2:12, February 1, 1940.
Type locality.—Eight miles west of Clarendon, Donley County, Texas.
Distribution in Kansas.—Southcentral Kansas, northward certainly to Ellsworth County, westward certainly to Stafford and Barber counties and eastward to Cowley County.
Description.—Color: Upper parts varying from Brussels Brown in some specimens to nearly Prout's Brown, especially in specimens from central part of state. Top of head, and sometimes back, darker than rest of upper parts, but no well defined black stripe; underparts varying from whitish to nearly Buffy Brown; fore and hind feet and approximately distal half of tail white. Size: Large (see measurements). Skull: Sagittal crest absent in females and barely present in males; least width of braincase more than distance from alveolus of incisor to middle of lateral border of P4 at alveolar border. Length of auditory bulla (from anteroventral edge of paroccipital process of exoccipital to hamulus of peterygoid), in each sex, more than 8 mm.; occiput usually vertical when skull is laid top down; zygomatic arch broadly and squarely spreading, divergent anteriorly; rostrum averaging less than twice as long as wide.
Comparisons.—From G. bursarius lutescens, major differs in color darker, premaxillae extending slightly farther posteriorly; temporal impressions usually forming a more well-marked sagittal crest in males; ventral side of zygomatic arch, at level of jugal bone, more curved.
From G. bursarius majusculus, major differs in slightly lighter color, smaller size of body; in males, total length less than 284 mm.; hind foot 34 or less; basilar length of skull less than 42; in females total length less than 264, hind foot no more than 33, and basilar length less than 39.
From G. bursarius industrius, major differs in color, being Prout's Brown, instead of Cinnamon Brown (less Fuscous); body averaging 10 per cent longer; total length in males from 9 to 9.7 per cent longer, hind foot 9.7 per cent longer on the average; skull averaging larger in all parts measured. Occiput less inclined anterodorsally; top nearly flat, less arched than that of G. b. industrius; auditory bulla averaging slightly larger and less inflated.
Remarks.—Specimens of this subspecies from Norman, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, and Canton, Dewey County, Oklahoma, and most of those from Kansas, are more Fuscous than topotypes and tend toward G. bursarius majusculus. Specimens from McPherson County have a darker dorsal stripe resembling that of G. bursarius majusculus. One adult from Little Salt Marsh, Stafford County, is pale, closely resembling topotypes.
Most of the cranial characters, nevertheless, are constant in all available specimens, except that in specimens of each sex from the type locality the basilar length averages 4 to 5 per cent shorter. In the constancy of size of the relatively large auditory bullae and in the nearly flat dorsal profile of the cranial part of the skull, the specimens from Kansas agree with the specimens from the type locality.
Specimens from Harper County have the occiput slightly inclined anterodorsally and thus are reminiscent of industrius which has an even greater inclination of the occiput. Probably the appearance in dilute fashion of this character in Harper County is properly to be interpreted as intergradation with industrius. If so, the actual intergradation may be to the northwest via Pratt County since specimens from Barber County, immediately west of Harper and lying between Harper County and the range of industrius, do not have the occiput so inclined.
Of a pair of adults from eight miles west of Rosalia, Butler County, the female is indistinguishable in color from adults of G. b. industrius from northern Meade County and from two specimens from eleven miles west of Clarendon, Donley County, Texas, near the type locality of G. b. major. The male from eight miles west of Rosalia is darker as compared either with G. b. industrius or G. b. major and the coloration of the upper parts resembles those in G. b. majusculus; the underparts are only slightly paler than the upper parts as in majusculus. Measurements of the skulls are intermediate between the averages for G. b. majusculus and those for G. b. major. These specimens from eight miles west of Rosalia are intermediate structurally, and since they are intermediate geographically between G. b. majusculus and G. b. major, they suggest intergradation of the two subspecies. The specimens in question are referred to major because the size is nearer that of major. It is mainly the intermediate nature of these two specimens from Butler County, and the intermediate nature of the specimens from McPherson County, Kansas, that have caused us to treat G. b. majusculus as only subspecifically distinct from the more western subspecies, major.
Specimens examined.—Total number, 77, as follows: Ellsworth County: 2 mi. S Ellsworth, 1. McPherson County: Smoky Hill River, 1 mi. S and 1/2 mi. W Lindsborg, 5; 1/2 mi. E McPherson, 1. Stafford County: Little Salt Marsh, 12; no locality more precise than county, 3. Reno County: 8 mi. N and 1 mi. E Haven, 2. Harvey County: 1 mi. E and 1/2 mi. N Halstead, 1; Halstead, 3. Butler County: 8 mi. W Rosalia, 2. Barber County: near South Bridge, Sun City, 1; 2 mi. S Sun City, 1; Wells Ranch, Aetna, 5; "1 mi. W Aetna," 3; near South Bridge, Aetna, 1; near Bridge, 1 mi. S Aetna, 2. Harper County: 4-1/2 mi. NE Danville, 8; 1 mi. N Harper, 11; 3 mi. S Harper, 1. Cowley County: 3 mi. SW Arkansas City, 4; 3 mi. SE Arkansas City, 9; 3 mi. S Arkansas City, 1.