Chaetodipus spinatus
Spiny Pocket Mouse
(Chaetodipus spinatus) | |
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Range | |
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Taxonomic classification | |
Order: | Rodentia |
Suborder: | Supramyomorpha |
Infraorder: | Castorimorphi |
Family: | Heteromyidae |
Subfamily: | Perognathinae |
Genus: | Chaetodipus |
Binomial details | |
Chaetodipus spinatus (Merriam, 1889) |
Description
From Lackey (1991): "The length of the hind foot is 27% of length of head and body, and the length of the tail is 126% of length of head and body (Hatt, 1932). The pelage of C. spinatus is hispid, with large and prominent spines on the rump, scattered on the flanks and sides, and often extending to the shoulders. Upper parts are drab brown, with the hairs plumbeous basally, pale tan subterminally, and black-tipped. The sides and the orbital region are slightly paler than the back, the lateral line is faint or absent, and the underparts are buffy white. The ears are small and orbicular, dusky, and the subauricular spot is small. The tail is moderately long; hair is brown above, whitish below, and crested. The spines are white with dusky tips, except on the sides where the tips are white (Osgood, 1900). Guard hairs are characterized by a flattened, imbricate scale pattern, and by a dorsal trough that varies among the subspecies in depth and width. C. spinatus has the longest and widest guard hairs of any of the eight species of Chaetodipus examined; the length (in mm) ranged from 9.7 to 10.0, and the width from 0.12 to 0.14."
From Jameson & Peeters (2004): "A rather large, yellow brown pocket mouse with a bicolored, crested tail and whitish, spiny hairs on the rump. The heel of the hind foot is naked. The ears are rather small (5—7 mm)."


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 |
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California | Jameson & Peeters (2004) | 164–225 | 89–128 | 20–28 | 19–29 | |
not reported | Ceballos (editor, 2014) | 85–89 | 107–124 | 25–26 | 9–10 | 20–22 |
rangewide | Lackey (1991) | males: 199 (n=20); females: 198 (n=20) | males: 114 (n=20); females: 115 (n=20) | males: 24 (n=20); females: 24 (n=20) | males: 10 (n=20); females: 10 (n=20) |
Skull
Similar species
From Lackey (1991): "The presence of pronounced rump spines distinguishes C. spinatus from pocket mice in the genus Perognathus and from C. formosus, C. hispidis, C. baileyi, C. penicillatus, C. pernix, C. artus, C. lineatus, and C. arenarius. C.spinatus differs from C. dalquesti in possessing pronounced bristles, often on the flank in addition to the rump, and markedly hispid pelage. From C. nelsoni, C. intermedius, C. anthonyi, C. fallax, C. californicus, and C. goldmani, C.spinatus is distinguished by its lack of a well-marked lateral line (Hall, 1981)."
References
Ceballos G, editor. 2014. Mammals of Mexico. Baltimore (MD, USA): Johns Hopkins University Press.
Hall ER. 1981. The mammals of North America. 2 vols. John Wiley and Sons, New York
Hatt RT. 1932. The vertebral columns of ricochetal rodents. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 63:599-738.
Jameson EW, Peeters HJ. 2004. Mammals of California (No. 66). Berkeley (CA, USA): University of California Press.
Lackey JA. 1991. Chaetodipus spinatus. Mammalian species (385): 1-4.
Merriam CH. 1889. Revision of the North American pocket mice. North American Fauna 1:1-29.
Osgood WH. 1900. Revision of the pocket mice of the genus Perognathus. North American Fauna 18:1-73.