Additional records (Howell 1929:44): Big Horn Co.: Otto; Hyattville. Sheridan Co.: Powder River at mouth of Clear Creek; Sheridan; Arvada. Weston Co.: Thornton; Upton; Pine Ridge; Newcastle. Hot Springs Co.: head of Bridger Creek; Willow Creek, 10 mi. SW Thermopolis. Washakie Co.: 10 mi. S Manderson; Otter Creek, Bighorn Basin. Johnson Co.: Powder River Basin, near Pumpkin Buttes. Natrona Co.: Merino. Converse Co.: Douglas. Platte Co.: Guernsey; 15 mi. SW Wheatland. Goshen Co.: Rawhide Butte. Localities for which counties are unknown: Owl Creek Mountains; North Platte River.
[ Eutamias minimus confinis Howell ]
Eutamias minimus confinis Howell, Jour. Mamm. 6:52, February 15, 1925.
Type.—Female, adult, skull and skin No. 168957 (NM); from head of Trapper Creek, west slope of Bighorn Mountains, Big Horn County, Wyoming; obtained on July 7, 1910, by Merrit Cary; original No. 1956.
Diagnosis.—Size large; over-all tone of upper parts grayish brown; baculum large, as in E. m. pallidus.
Description.—Color pattern: Crown Clay Color mixed with Pale Smoke Gray; upper facial stripe Fuscous Black; other facial stripes Fuscous Black slightly mixed with Tawny; anterior margin of ear Yellow Ocher or Ochraceous-Orange; hairs inside posterior part of pinna Yellow Ocher or Ochraceous-Orange; posterior margin of ear Smoke Gray; postauricular patch buffy white or Smoke Gray; dorsal dark stripes black or Fuscous Black more or less mixed with Tawny or Tawny-Olive; dorsal light stripes creamy white, sometimes washed with Pale Smoke Gray; sides Raw Sienna or Cinnamon-Buff; rump and thighs Pale Smoke Gray mixed with Tawny-Olive; dorsal surface of tail black mixed with Clay Color; ventral surface of tail Clay Color, black along margin and Light Buff or Light Ochraceous-Buff along outermost edge; antipalmar and antiplantar surfaces of feet Pinkish Buff; underparts creamy white sometimes with grayish underfur. Skull and Baculum: Large but proportionally the same as in other subspecies of E. minimus.
Comparisons.—From E. m. silvaticus, the subspecies from the Black Hills, E. m. confinis differs in: General tone of upper parts darker, more reddish and less grayish; ventral surface of tail more tawny; skull and baculum of same size and proportions.
From E. m. operarius, the subspecies from the Laramie Range and other mountains of south-central Wyoming, E. m. confinis differs in: Rump and thighs darker; sides darker; general tone of upper parts more grayish.
For comparisons with E. m. minimus, E. m. consobrinus, and E. m. pallidus, see the accounts of those subspecies.
Remarks.—This subspecies is endemic to the Bighorn Mountains. Intergradation between E. m. confinis and E. m. minimus and between E. m. pallidus and E. m. confinis have already been discussed in the accounts of those subspecies.