Neotoma leucodon
White-toothed Woodrat
(Neotoma leucodon) | |
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Range | |
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Taxonomic classification | |
Order: | Rodentia |
Suborder: | Supramyomorpha |
Infraorder: | Myomorphi |
Superfamily: | Muroidea |
Family: | Cricetidae |
Subfamily: | Neotominae |
Tribe: | Neotomini |
Genus: | Neotoma |
Subgenus: | Neotoma (subgenus) |
Binomial details | |
Neotoma leucodon Merriam, 1894 |
Neotoma leucodon is a white-throated woodrat and was included in Neotoma albigula until Edwards et al. (2001) showed that the two populations were genetically distinct. Edwards et al. (2001) defined their ranges as: "White-toothed woodrats located east of the Rio Grande in New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma (and, presumably, eastern Colorado) and those found east and south of the Rio Conchos in Mexico should be assigned to the same species [N. leucodon]." Additionally, "White-throated woodrats found west of the Rio Grande in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah (and, presumably western Colorado) and those west and north of the Rio Conchos in Mexico should be assigned to N. albigula."
Description
From Schmidly & Bradley (2016): "A medium-sized woodrat with large ears, bulging black eyes, and relatively short, distinctly bicolor tail (grayish brown above, white below), densely covered with short hairs; throat, and usually breast and chin, with hairs white to base; upperparts dull pinkish buff, brightest along sides, thinly suffused with blackish; underparts and feet white."
From Armstrong et al. (2010): "The eastern white-throated woodrat is of medium size for the genus, with a distinctly bicolored tail, dark brown above and white below. Hairs of the throat are white to their bases and there is no dark line around the mouth. The animals are somewhat variable in dorsal color, predominately pale brownish but with a blackish "wash", provided by black-tipped hairs."

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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Colorado | Armstrong et al. (2010) | 300–350 | 125–150 | 33–37 | 26–30 | 150–280 |
not reported | Ceballos (editor, 2014) | 283–400 | 76–185 | 30–40 | 25–30 | 145–200 |
Texas | Schmidly & Bradley (2016) | 328 | 152 | 34 | 136–294 |
Skull
Similar species
From Armstrong et al. (2010): "Neotoma albigula and N. leucodon are distinctive genetically (C. Edwards et al. 2001), but no macroscopic characters are known to distinguish them reliably except by direct comparison, especially of museum specimens. R. Finley (1958: 299) noted that woodrats now known as N. leucodon differ from western white-throated woodrats in grayer dorsal color and "in more angular configuration of temporal ridges, narrow maxillo-vomerine notch, and deeper anterointernal enamel fold of M1."
References
Armstrong DM, Fitzgerald JP, Meaney CA. 2010. Mammals of Colorado, Second Edition. Denver (CO, USA): University Press of Colorado.
Ceballos G, editor. 2014. Mammals of Mexico. Baltimore (MD, USA): Johns Hopkins University Press.
Edwards CW, Fulhorst CF, Bradley RD. 2001. Molecular phylogenetics of the Neotoma albigula species group: further evidence of a paraphyletic assemblage. Journal of Mammalogy 82(2):267-279.
Finley Jr RB. 1958. The woodrats of Colorado: distribution and ecology. University of Kansas publications, Museum of Natural History 10:213-552.
Merriam CH. 1894-07-02. Abstract of a study of the American wood rats, with descriptions of fourteen new species and subspecies of the genus Neotoma. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 9:117-128.
Schmidly DJ, Bradley RD. 2016. The mammals of Texas. Austin (TX, USA): University of Texas Press.