Neotamias palmeri
| Palmer's Chipmunk
(Neotamias palmeri) | |
|---|---|
| Range | |
 | |
| Taxonomic classification | |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Suborder: | Sciuromorpha |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Subfamily: | Xerinae |
| Tribe: | Tamiini |
| Genus: | Neotamias |
| Binomial details | |
| Neotamias palmeri (C. H. Merriam, 1897) | |
| Other resources | |
| Full taxonomic details at MDD | |
The Palmer's Chipmunk (Neotamias palmeri) occurs up to timberline in the Spring Mountains of Nevada.
Description
From Best (1993): "In summer pelage (early July), the sides of the nose of palmeri are pale pinkish-cinnamon, and the top of the head is smoke gray mixed with pale pinkish-cinnamon and bordered on the sides of the crown with fuscous. The facial stripes are sayal brown, shaded with fuscous, and the median stripe has some fuscous black in front of and behind the eye. The ears are sayal brown anteriorly, buffy white posteriorly, and clouded with fuscous medially. The postauricular patches (posterior to ear) are grayish white or creamy white. The median dorsal stripe is narrow, fuscous black, and bordered with mikado brown. The outer pair of dark stripes is mikado brown and shaded with fuscous. The median pair of pale stripes is pale smoke-gray and the outer pair is creamy white. There are no outer stripes. The sides are tawny or cinnamon, shading to pale russet. The rump and thighs are cinnamon buff, shaded with fuscous and smoke gray. The feet are pinkish buff or pinkish cinnamon. Dorsally, the tail is fuscous black (the bases of the hairs are cinnamon) and it is edged with pinkish buff. Ventrally, the tail is ochra ceous tawny and bordered with fuscous black and edged with pinkish buff. The underparts are crea my white (color nomenclature follows Ridgway, 1912-Howell, 1929). In winter pelage (February), the upperparts are grayer than in summer and the dark dorsal stripes are less distinct. The sides of the nose are clay colored. The dark dorsal stripes are sayal brown, and the median one is fuscous black in the center. The pale dorsal stripes are pale smoke-gray, and the outer pair is more whitish. The nape and shoulders are washed with pale smoke- gray. The rump and thighs are smoke gray and washed with cinnamon buff. The sides are sayal brown, shading to cinnamon buff on the sides of the neck. The feet and tail are the same color as in summer pelage (Howell, 1929)"
Museum type specimens
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Holotype: USNM 26075/33481. Neotamias palmeri. Adult male. Charleston Peak, Clark County, Nevada. Collected 13 February 1891. -
Holotype: USNM 26075/33481. Neotamias palmeri. Adult male. Charleston Peak, Clark County, Nevada. Collected 13 February 1891. -
Holotype: USNM 26075/33481. Neotamias palmeri. Adult male. Charleston Peak, Clark County, Nevada. Collected 13 February 1891.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nevada (Charlston Peak) | Hall (1946) | males: 204–225 (n=10); females: 205–230 (n=10) | males: 75–99 (n=10); females: 74–97 (n=10) | males: 31–34 (n=10); females: 33–35 (n=10) | males: 59.6–69.1 (n=3); females: 75.4–75.6 (n=2) | |
| Nevada (Clark County) | Holotype: USNM 26075 | 219 | 98 | 33 |
Skull
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Holotype: USNM 26075/33481. Neotamias palmeri. Adult male. Charleston Peak, Clark County, Nevada. Collected 13 February 1891. Dorsal view of the skull. -
Holotype: USNM 26075/33481. Neotamias palmeri. Adult male. Charleston Peak, Clark County, Nevada. Collected 13 February 1891. Ventral view of the skull. -
Holotype: USNM 26075/33481. Neotamias palmeri. Adult male. Charleston Peak, Clark County, Nevada. Collected 13 February 1891. Lateral view of the skull. -
Holotype: USNM 26075/33481. Neotamias palmeri. Adult male. Charleston Peak, Clark County, Nevada. Collected 13 February 1891. Dorsal view of the mandible. -
Holotype: USNM 26075/33481. Neotamias palmeri. Adult male. Charleston Peak, Clark County, Nevada. Collected 13 February 1891. Lateral view of the left mandible.
Similar species
The only Neotamias sympatric with Neotamias palmeri is the Panamint Chipmunk (Neotamias panamintinus). From Best (1993): From panamintinus, palmeri differs in greater size, grayer shoulders, more solidly black and solidly white dorsal stripes (Hall, 1946), more tawny coloration of the body, much paler ventral surface of the tail (Burt, 1934), narrower and less-flattened braincase, longer upper incisors, larger cheekteeth, and more nearly parallel zygomatic arches (Hall, 1946). From nearby populations of its closest relative, umbrinus, palmeri differs in having browner (more reddish) dark dorsal stripes, more tawny color on the under side of the tail, shorter rostrum, and shorter upper incisors (Hall, 1946 , 1981). [Neotamias] palmeri and umbrinus have similar karyotypes (Sutton and Nadler, 1969) and phalli, but the baculum of palmeri is relatively distinct from that of umbrinus ; palmeri has a less acute angle between the tip and shaft (average, 114.8° compared with 120.5-124.3° in three populations of umbrinus) and greater height of shaft (average, 0.86 mm compared with 0.65 -0.76 mm in three populations of umbrinus-Stanley, 1991). Intergradation does not occur between these two species because deserts, inhospitable to chipmunks, isolate palmeri from umbrinus (White, 1953)."
References
Best TL. 1993. Tamias palmeri. Mammalian Species (443):1-6. https://doi.org/10.2307/3504216
Howell AH. 1929. Revision of the American chipmunks (genera Tamias and Eutamias). North American Fauna, 52:1-157.
Merriam CH. 1897-07-01. Notes on the chipmunks of the genus Eutamias occurring west of the east base of the Cascade-Sierra system, with descriptions of new forms. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 11:189-212.