Neotamias alpinus
| Alpine Chipmunk
(Neotamias alpinus) | |
|---|---|
| Range | |
 | |
| Taxonomic classification | |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Suborder: | Sciuromorpha |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Subfamily: | Xerinae |
| Tribe: | Tamiini |
| Genus: | Neotamias |
| Binomial details | |
| Neotamias alpinus (C. H. Merriam, 1893) | |
| Other resources | |
| Full taxonomic details at MDD | |
The Alpine Chipmunk (Neotamias alpinus) inhabits rock-bordered alpine meadows and talus slopes in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California (Cade, 1963).
Description
From Clawson et al. (1994): "In autumn pelage, the upperparts of the alpine chipmunk are hoary gray, suffused on the flanks with ochraceous buff. The median dorsal stripe is dusky and is obscured by pale rusty. The lateral dorsal dark stripe is pale ferruginous and the inner pair of white stripes is hoary gray. The outer pair of stripes is white and broad (as in [Neotamias] speciosus). The postauricular patches are whitish and are not sharply defined. The facial stripes are pale. The ear stripes are indistinct and the legs and feet are gray. Dorsally, the tail is hoary (rarely yellowish), becoming black toward the tip (individual hairs are buff gray sub-basally, then black, and broadly tipped with pale buff-gray or yellowish). Ventrally the tail is pale buff-fulvous, bordered and broadly tipped with black, and broadly edged laterally with pale buff (Merriam. 1893). Winter pelage (October) is similar to summer pelage, but the upperparts are more grayish and less tawny. The sides are pinkish buff. In summer pelage (August), the head is smoke gray and washed with pale pinkish-cinnamon. The stripe on each side of the head is pale fuscous mixed with sayal brown. The ocular stripe is fuscous and the submalar stripe is snuff brown. The pale facial stripes are grayish-white, The ears are chaetura drab or dark brown anteriorly and buff white posteriorly. The postauricular patches are rather large and creamy white. The dark dorsal stripes are tawny and mixed with fuscous black; the median one is darkest and usually is blackish. The median pair of pale dorsal stripes is smoke gray and sometimes sprinkled with tawny. The outer pair is broader and creamy white. The sides are clay color with an indistinct patch of smoke gray on the shoulders. The rump and thighs are smoke gray, sprinkled with clay color. Dorsally, the tail is fuscous black. overlaid with clay color. Ventrally, the tail is clay color and pinkish-cinnamon, bordered with fuscous black and edged with clay color. The tip of the tail is fuscous black for ca. 20 mm. The forefeet and hind feet are pale smoke-gray, washed with pale pinkish-buff, and the underparts are creamy white (color nomenclature follows Ridgway, 1912-Howell, 1929)."
Museum images
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Holotype: USNM 30507/42491. Neotamias alpinus. Young adult female. Big Cottonwood Meadows, High Sierra, just south of Mount Whitney, Inyo County, California. Collected 12 August 1891. -
Holotype: USNM 30507/42491. Neotamias alpinus. Young adult female. Big Cottonwood Meadows, High Sierra, just south of Mount Whitney, Inyo County, California. Collected 12 August 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | Jameson & Peeters (2004) | 166–195 | 70–85 | 28–31 | 12–14 | 30–42 |
Skull
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Holotype: USNM 30507/42491. Neotamias alpinus. Young adult female. Big Cottonwood Meadows, High Sierra, just south of Mount Whitney, Inyo County, California. Collected 12 August 1891. Dorsal view of the skull. -
Holotype: USNM 30507/42491. Neotamias alpinus. Young adult female. Big Cottonwood Meadows, High Sierra, just south of Mount Whitney, Inyo County, California. Collected 12 August 1891. Ventral view of the skull. -
Holotype: USNM 30507/42491. Neotamias alpinus. Young adult female. Big Cottonwood Meadows, High Sierra, just south of Mount Whitney, Inyo County, California. Collected 12 August 1891. Lateral view of the skull. -
Holotype: USNM 30507/42491. Neotamias alpinus. Young adult female. Big Cottonwood Meadows, High Sierra, just south of Mount Whitney, Inyo County, California. Collected 12 August 1891. Lateral view of the left mandible. -
Holotype: USNM 30507/42491. Neotamias alpinus. Young adult female. Big Cottonwood Meadows, High Sierra, just south of Mount Whitney, Inyo County, California. Collected 12 August 1891. Dorsal view of the mandible.
Similar species
References
Cade TJ. 1963. Observations on torpidity in captive chipmunks of the genus Eutamias. Ecology 44:255-261.
Clawson RG, Clawson JA, Best TL. 1994. Tamias alpinus. Mammalian Species (461):1-6.
Howell AH. 1929. Revision of the American chipmunks (genera Tamias and Eutamias). North American Fauna, 52:1-157.
Merriam CH. 1893-12-28. Descriptions of eight new ground squirrels of the genera Spermophilus and Tamias from California, Texas, and Mexico. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 8:129-138.