Microtus oeconomus (Pallas)
Fig. 44
Baculum: Stalk broad and flattened, greatest length (3.5 mm.) 12/3 to 2 times greatest width, 4 to 5½ times greatest depth; three ossified processes, median one largest, lateral processes slender, relatively small; length of median process 3/8 length of stalk; median process decurved, dorsoventrally flattened in some specimens, widened at base; attachment of processes to shaft displaced ventrally; base of stalk widened, posterior profile in dorsal view usually trilobate, in a few cases rounded, median lobe forming posterior shelf, lateral lobes dorsally raised and forming margins of lateral tuberosities; in end-view thickness frequently more or less uniform throughout central part, broad depression dorsally, ventral concavity narrower and shallower (as figured); base, and occasionally shaft, flattened, width at mid-point of stalk 2 to 3 times depth, narrowest point posterior to terminal inflation of shaft in terminal 1/3 of shaft.
The baculum of M. oeconomus (Old World) figured by Ognev (1950:257) resembles but exceeds that of M. oeconomus (New World) in the relatively large median process and slender lateral processes, but differs noticeably in the presence of a deep median notch in the base of the stalk. A specimen from Hungary is intermediate between Ognev's specimen and those from the New World in both size of median process and size of lateral processes, and has an unnotched base resembling that in Figure 44.
Specimens examined: Ten, of three subspecies; M. oeconomus gilmorei, Umiat, Alaska, 51354, 51361, 51399, 51408; Lake Schrader, Brooks Range, Alaska, 51422; M. o. macfarlani, 5 mi. NNE Gulkana, Alaska, 43039, 43041; 20 mi. NE Anchorage, Alaska, 43044; Kelsall Lake, British Columbia, 43048; M. o. mehelyi, Kisbalatan, Hungary, 75159.
Microtus mexicanus (Saussure)
Figs. 35 and 36
Baculum: Stalk attenuate, greatest breadth relatively near proximal end; greatest length (3.1 to 3.4 mm.) more or less twice greatest breadth, 4 to 5 times greatest depth; usually a single process ossified; lateral processes relatively small, cartilaginous or (in three specimens, 63094, 69453, 68019) with small ossifications; median process relatively small, sometimes appressed to tip of shaft, in length less than ¼ length of stalk; posterior profile in dorsal view rounded, flattened posteriorly, or in some specimens trilobate with angular edges; in end-view relative depths of dorsal and ventral concavities variable, dorsal usually deeper than ventral; distal end of stalk frequently bowed dorsally; shaft slender distally, sometimes slightly inflated terminally, or (in one specimen, 63085) near tip small lateral projections that are perhaps fused lateral ossifications; lateral profile in dorsal view a gradual slope anteriorly from point of greatest width to slender tip.
Specimens examined: Thirteen, of four subspecies; Microtus mexicanus mexicanus, Las Vigas, Veracruz, 30692; Nevada de Toluca, México, 63101; Valle de Bravo, México, 63094; Microtus mexicanus mogollonensis, Mt. Taylor, Valencia Co., New Mexico, 63298, 76830; Park Well, Mesa Verde National Park, Montezuma Co., Colorado, 69448, 69453; Upper Nutria, McKinley Co., New Mexico, 69997, 70000; Microtus mexicanus phaeus, Sierra Patamba, 9000 ft., Michoacán, 63085; Microtus mexicanus subsimus, 2 mi. E Mesa de Tablas, Coahuila, 58916; 13 mi. E San Antonio de las Alazanas, Coahuila, 68019, 68021.