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Dipodomys merriami

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Merriam's Kangaroo Rat
(Dipodomys merriami)
Range
Taxonomic classification
Order:Rodentia
Suborder:Supramyomorpha
Infraorder:Castorimorphi
Family:Heteromyidae
Subfamily:Dipodomyinae
Genus:Dipodomys
Binomial details
Dipodomys merriami Mearns, 1890

Description

From Hoffmeister (1986): "A small to medium-sized, four-toed (hind foot) species of Dipodomys; tail relatively long, about 140 to 150 percent of body length; skull small but bullae well-inflated; least interobital breadth usually more than one-half the basal length; interparietal narrow; narrow, sharply angular maxillary arches; dorsal coloration variable geographically."

From Jameson & Peeters (2004): "A rather small, buff-colored kangaroo rat with four toes on its hind foot. It is rather similar to Ord's Kangaroo Rat (D. ordii), from which it can be distinguished by the absence of a minute fifth toe on the hind foot."

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
California Jameson & Peeters (2004) 220–260 123–160 34–39 39–52
Texas Schmidly & Bradley (2016) 247 144 39 40–50


Skull

From Hoffmeister (1986): "...skull with relatively widely divergent maxillary arms of the zygomata; relatively short rostrum; lower incisors not flattened on anterior face."

Dipodomys merriami have awl-shaped lower incisors.

  • Awl-shaped lower incisors of Dipodomys merriami.

Similar species

From Hoffmeister (1986): "D. ordii differs from D. merriami as follows: five rather than four toes on hind foot; tail relatively shorter, about 125 percent of body rather than 143 percent; rostrum broader; skull averaging larger but maxillary wing of zygomatic arch averaging narrower."

  • Dipodomys merriami. Compared to D. ordii, this species has four toes, rather than five, and a relatively longer tail.
  • Dipodomys ordii. Compared to D. merriami, this species has five toes, rather than four, and a relatively shorter tail.

From Hoffmeister (1986): "D. microps differs from D. merriami as follows: five toes on hind foot instead of four; lower incisors flat on front face rather than curved and narrow; larger on the average in all external measurements; least interorbital breadth less than one-half the basal length rather than usually more; maxillary arches narrow and rounded rather than sharply angled; lining of cheek pouches appears dusky rather than whitish."

  • Awl-shaped lower incisors of Dipodomys merriami.
  • Awl-shaped lower incisors of the Ord's Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys ordii).
  • Chisel-shaped lower incisors of the Chisel-toothed Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys microps).

References

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

Jameson EW, Peeters HJ. 2004. Mammals of California (No. 66). Berkeley (CA, USA): University of California Press.

Mearns EA. 1890-02-21. Description of supposed new species and subspecies of mammals, from Arizona. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2(20):277-307.

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

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