Specimens examined.—Total number, 28, arranged alphabetically by states and from north to south by counties in each state. Unless otherwise indicated specimens are in the United States National Museum.
Arizona. Graham County: Safford, 1. Cochise County: 2 mi. W Willcox, 1; Willcox, 1; 8000 ft., Chiricahua Mts., 1; 6000 ft., Pinery Canyon, Chiricahua Mts., 1[33]; Tombstone, 1; Sulphur Spring Valley, 1[74].
Durango. "Durango City," 1.
Kansas. Seward County: Liberal, 1[93].
New Mexico. Bernalillo County: 3 mi. NW Albuquerque, 2. Lincoln County: 7800 ft., South Fork Eagle Creek, White Mts., 1. Chaves County: Pecos River, 10 mi. E Roswell, 8[74]; Dexter, 1[74]. Otero County: Cloudcroft, 9000 ft., 1[90]. Dona Ana County: Mesilla Park, 2 (1[75], 1[7]); Berino, 2.
Texas. Culberson County: 1-1/2 mi. NW Kent, 1[90]. Terrel County: Lozier, 1.
Mustela frenata texensis Hall
Long-tailed Weasel
Mustela frenata texensis Hall, Carnegie Instit. Washington Publ. 473:99, November 20, 1936.
Mustela frenata, Strecker, The Baylor Bull., 27:14, September, 1924.
Mustela frenata frenata, Strecker, The Baylor Bull., 27:12, August, 1926 (part).
Type.—Male, adult, skull with skin of head, neck and tail; no. 14821, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.; Kerr County, Texas; September 17, 1897; obtained by H. P. Attwater.
The skull (plates [22]-[24]) and dentition are complete and unbroken. The preserved parts of the skin are not stuffed.
Range.—Lower Sonoran and possibly Upper Sonoran life-zones of central Texas. See figure [29] on page [221].
Characters for ready recognition.—Differs from Mustela frenata arthuri in possessing white facial markings and postorbital breadth less than distance between posterior borders of P4 and P2; from M. f. frenata in larger size of body and skull, the basilar length of which in adult males is more than 52.5; from M. f. neomexicana in Brussels Brown rather than Buckthorn Brown color of upper parts and basilar length of skull more than 52.5.
Description.—Size.—Male: Measurements taken from the dried skins of a young male, no. 15476, Mus. Comp. Zoöl., from Kerr County, Texas, and a subadult male, no. 2017, Baylor Univ. Mus., from 5 mi. N Waco, Texas, are, respectively, as follows: Total length, 600 and more than 510; length of tail, 200 and 225; length of hind foot, 52 and 52.
Female: Skins unknown.
Externals.—As described in Mustela frenata frenata.
Color.—As described in Mustela frenata frenata.
Skull and teeth.—Adult male: See measurements and plates [22]-[24]. As described in Mustela frenata frenata except that: Weight, 8 grams; basilar length 54; least width of palate less than length of P4; anterior margin of masseteric fossa anterior to middle of m2.
Female: Skull unknown.
Remarks.—The type specimen, taken by the veteran collector of Texan mammals, H. P. Attwater, appears to have been the first one of these animals to find its way into the collection of any museum or naturalist. The second specimen from Kerr County was secured by, or through, the well-known commercial collector, F. B. Armstrong. Two trade skins, from Kerr County, taken on December 10, 1938, are in the Texas Cooperative Research Collection, as is also the skeleton of a young animal from Fredericksburg. The two other specimens from McLennan County (both males contrary to the statement of Strecker, 1924:14), owe their preservation to the alertness of John K. Strecker, Curator of the Baylor University Museum, who has given a complete account of their history.
The range of this subspecies is thought to include much of central Texas.