Genera and Subgenera of Chipmunks

by John A. White

Eutamias, Ellerman, J. R., The families and genera of living rodents. British Mus. (Nat. Hist.), 1:426, June 8, 1940.

Eutamias, Bryant, M. D., Amer. Midland Nat. 33:732, March 1945.

Diagnosis.—Size large; lambdoidal crest moderately developed; supraorbital notches distinctly anterior to posterior notch of zygomatic plate; baculum with faint keel on dorsal surface of tip which curves upward; pelage coarse; ears broad, rounded, of medium height.

Geographic range.—Palearctic. West to Dvina and Kama rivers, Vologda, and Kazan, in European Russia. South to southern Ural Mountains, Altai Mountains; Kansu, Szechwan, Shensi, Shansi, and Chihli provinces of China; Manchuria and Korea. East to Hokkaido Island, Japan; Kunashiri Island, southern Kurile Islands; Sakhalin Island, and Yakutsk, Siberia. North nearly to Arctic Coast in Siberia and European Russia (Ellerman and Morrison-Scott 1951:503).

Subgenus Neotamias Howell

Neotamias Howell, A. H., N. Amer. Fauna, 52:26, November 30, 1929. Type, Eutamias merriami J. A. Allen [=Tamias asiaticus merriami J. A. Allen].

Neotamias, Ellerman, J. R., The families and genera of living rodents. British Mus. (Nat. Hist.), 1:426, June 8, 1940.

Neotamias, Bryant, M. D., Amer. Midland Nat., 33:372, March, 1945.

Diagnosis.—Size small to medium; lambdoidal crest barely discernible; supraorbital notches even with, or posterior to, posterior notch of zygomatic plate; baculum with distinct keel on dorsal surface of tip which curves upward; pelage silky; ears long and pointed.

Geographic range.—Western Nearctic. West to Pacific Coast. South to Lat. 20°30' in Baja California and to northwestern Durango and southeastern Coahuila, Mexico. East to eastern New Mexico, westernmost Oklahoma, eastern Colorado, Wyoming, northwestern Nebraska, western and northwestern South Dakota, western and northwestern North Dakota, northeastern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and eastern Ontario. North to southwestern shore of Hudson Bay, southern shore of Great Slave Lake and Yukon River, Yukon.