Speciation and Evolution of the Pygmy Mice, Genus Baiomys

by Robert L. Packard

Food of the southern pygmy mouse includes nuts, bark, grass seeds, and leaves. Dalquest (MS) writes that bits of banana proved to be useful bait in trapping these mice in Veracruz.

Reproduction.—Notations concerning lactation and embryos on specimen labels of females suggest that the southern pygmy mouse breeds in all months. I have records of pregnant or lactating females in every month, save January, April, May, and June. The average of 26 counts of embryos or young per litter is 2.92 (1-4).

Baiomys musculus brunneus (J. A. Allen and Chapman)

Peromyscus musculus brunneus J. A. Allen and Chapman, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 9:203, June 16, 1897; Elliott, Field Columb. Mus. Publ., 105(4):136, July 1, 1905; Elliott, Field Columb. Mus. Publ., 115(8):203, 1907; Osgood, N. Amer. Fauna, 28:259, April 17, 1909.

Baiomys musculus brunneus, Miller, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 79:137, December 31, 1912; Miller, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 128:318, April 29, 1924; Ellerman, The Families and Genera of Living Rodents, 2:402, March 21, 1941; Goldman, Smith. Miscl. Coll., 115:437, July 31, 1951; Goodwin, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 102:318, August 31, 1953; Miller and Kellogg, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 205:512, March 3, 1955; Booth, Walla Walla Publs., Dept. Biol. Sci., 20:15, July 10, 1957; Hall and Kelson, The Mammals of North America, 2:661, March 31, 1959 (part).

[Peromyscus musculus] brunneus, Elliott, Field Columb. Mus. Publ., 95(4): 176, 1904.

Baiomys musculus musculus, Davis, Jour. Mamm., 25:394, December 12, 1944 (part); Goldman, Smith Miscl. Coll., 115:437, July 31, 1951; Hooper, Jour. Mamm., 33:97, February 18, 1952 (part); Hall and Kelson, The Mammals of North America, 2:661, March 31, 1959 (part).

B. [aiomys] m. [usculus] brunneus, Hooper, Jour. Mamm., 33:96, February 18, 1952.

Baiomys taylori, Hooper, Jour. Mamm., 33:97, February 18, 1952 (part).

Type.—Adult female, skin and skull; No. 12535/10845 American Museum of Natural History; Jalapa, Veracruz, Republic of México; obtained on April 13, 1897, by F. M. Chapman, original number 1203.