Type locality.—Sandhills on Birdwood Creek, Lincoln County, western Nebraska.
Distribution in Kansas.—Northwestern Kansas, eastward certainly to Ellis County, southward certainly to Scott County.
Description.—Animals with total length averaging no more than 272 mm.; length of vertebrae of tail averaging no more than 92; hind foot averaging no more than 35. Color: In autumn pelage, upper parts Light Ochraceous-Buff becoming Buckthorn Brown in middorsal region and there forming a faint longitudinal band; sides Pale Yellow Orange. In summer, Buckthorn Brown on upper parts with a dorsal band, especially distinct on specimens from Ellis and Trego counties; specimens from farther west lack the distinct dorsal band. Underparts Gray Drab and sometimes whitish, usually whitish in young specimens; basal color of pelage Deep Neutral Gray; fore and hind feet whitish. Skull: Zygomatic arch broadly and squarely spreading anteriorly; temporal impressions uniting to form a low sagittal crest in adult males, but in adult females and in young males the impressions usually remain apart; shape of interparietal varying from subquadrate in young specimens to subtriangular or triangular in adults; in some young specimens the interparietal is reduced to a minute, ovoid bone.
Comparisons.—See comparisons in the accounts of other subspecies occurring in Kansas.
Remarks.—In his monographic revision of the pocket gophers, Merriam (1895:129) recorded 3 "typical or nearly typical" specimens from Trego County, and 18 "non typical" specimens as follows: Garden Plain, Sedgwick County, 4; Belle Plain, Sumner County, 5; Cairo, Pratt County, 6; Kiowa, Barber County, 2; and Ellis, Ellis County, 1. A detailed discussion of Merriam's account of the distribution of Geomys lutescens in Kansas is given by Swenk (1940:11-12).
Judging by specimens in the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, G. bursarius lutescens in Kansas is restricted to the northwestern part of the state, reaching southward certainly to Scott County and eastward certainly to Ellis County; precise limits of distribution of this subspecies are unknown. Additional collecting is necessary to determine where the range of lutescens meets the ranges of the other subspecies. The specimens studied are remarkably uniform. One specimen obtained in October, in Trego County, is slightly lighter colored than any other from Kansas. In other characteristics it agrees with specimens from northwestern Kansas and from the type locality.
Specimens examined.—Total number 32, as follows: Cheyenne County: 23 mi. (by road) NW St. Francis, 3. Rawlins County: 2 mi. NE Ludell, 10. Logan County: 5 mi. W Elkader, 3; no locality more precise than county, 1. Trego County: Wakeeney, 4; 12 mi. S Collyer, Perrington Ranch, 3; no locality more precise than county, 5. Scott County: 4 mi. S Scott City, 2. Ellis County: Hays State College Campus, Hays, 1.
Geomys bursarius majusculus Swenk
Geomys bursarius majusculus Swenk, Missouri Valley Fauna, 1:6, December 5, 1939; Hibbard, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 47:74, 1944.
Geomys bursarius, Baird, Expls. and surveys for a railroad route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, pt. 1, Mammals, 377, 1857; Merriam, North Amer. Fauna, 8:120, January, 1895; Lantz, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 19:175, 1905; Lantz, Kansas State Agric. College Bull., 129:335, April, 1905; Scheffer, Kansas State Agric. College Ento. and Zoöl. Dept. Bull., 172:199, September, 1910; Hibbard, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 36:240, 1933; Allen, Kansas State Teachers College Emporia Bull. Inf. Stud. in Educ., 20 (no. 5):15, May, 1940.