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Chaetodipus intermedius

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Rock Pocket Mouse
(Chaetodipus intermedius)
Range
Taxonomic classification
Order:Rodentia
Suborder:Supramyomorpha
Infraorder:Castorimorphi
Family:Heteromyidae
Subfamily:Perognathinae
Genus:Chaetodipus
Binomial details
Chaetodipus intermedius (Merriam, 1889)

Description

From Hoffmeister (1986): "Spines present on rump, but often difficult to detect; hind foot short, usually 22 mm or less; tail with a terminal tuft and bicolored; color of dorsum darkish, varying from grayish buff to dark brownish-black to black."

Ears have a lobed antitragus.

External measurements

Length measurements are in millimeters (mm) and weight measurements are in grams (g), unless stated otherwise. If available, the sample size (n=) is provided. If a range is not provided and n= is not given, then the listed measurement represents an average.

Part of range Reference Total length Tail length Hindfoot length Ear length Mass
not reported Ceballos (editor, 2014) 152–180 83–103 19–24 7–12 10–19
Texas Schmidly & Bradley (2016) 180 103 23 12–18


Color variation

Borrowed from Hoekstra et al. (2005): "Phenotypic variation across the range of Chaetodipus intermedius in the southwestern US. Photographs represent the typical dorsal coloration of individuals from each of 14 collecting locales indicated by circles. Filled circles represent lava flows and open circles are nonvolcanic rocky regions. The border between Arizona and New Mexico roughly represents the interface of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts, respectively."
Borrowed from Hoekstra & Nachman (2005): "Coat color variation within rock pocket mice, Chaetodipus intermedius. The melanic mice in each pair were caught on lava, while the light mice in each pair were caught on nearby light-colored rocks."

Skull

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Similar species

From Hoffmeister (1986): "[Chaetodipus] intermedius differs from [Chaetodipus] penicillatus, the species with which it is most frequently confused, in the presence of spinelike hairs on the rump; hind foot usually 22 mm or less rather than more; interparietal with straight rather than angled suture along anterior face, and thus not pentagonal or five-sided; extensions of anterior wings of supraoccipital between interparietal, and bullae wedge-shaped rather than truncate; rostrum narrower."

References

Ceballos G, editor. 2014. Mammals of Mexico. Baltimore (MD, USA): Johns Hopkins University Press.

Hoekstra HE, Krenz JG, Nachman MW. 2005. Local adaptation in the rock pocket mouse (Chaetodipus intermedius): natural selection and phylogenetic history of populations. Heredity 94(2):217-228.

Hoekstra HE, Nachman MW. 2005. Adaptive coat color variation in rodents. Mammalian Diversification: From Chromosomes to Phylogeography, 133, 79.

Hoffmeister DF. 1986. Mammals of Arizona. Tucson (AZ, USA): University of Arizona Press.

Merriam CH. 1889. Revision of the North American pocket mice. North American Fauna 1:1-29.

Schmidly DJ, Bradley RD. 2016. The mammals of Texas. Austin (TX, USA): University of Texas Press.

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