Neotamias merriami
| Merriam's Chipmunk
(Neotamias merriami) | |
|---|---|
| Range | |
 | |
| Taxonomic classification | |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Suborder: | Sciuromorpha |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Subfamily: | Xerinae |
| Tribe: | Tamiini |
| Genus: | Neotamias |
| Binomial details | |
| Neotamias merriami (J. A. Allen, 1889) | |
| Other resources | |
| Full taxonomic details at MDD | |
The Merriam's Chipmunk (Neotamias merriami) is a chipmunk found in a variety of habitats with short or tall trees in California and northern Baja California, Mexico.
Description
From Best and Granai (1994): "The tail of Merriam's chipmunk is long and bushy (75-97% of length of head and body), and the feet and ears are long and slender. The ears are sparsely furred on the convex surfaces in summer pelage, and are grayish (ochraceous near the coast). The dorsal stripes are about equal in width; the dark stripes are gray or brown, seldom with black areas, and the pale stripes are grayish. The cheeks and underparts are white and more or less dulled by gray, but in coastal areas the cheeks and underparts usually are suffused with ochraceous. The tail edging usually is dull white, but it is slightly buffy in some animals. The dorsal stripes are indistinct in the winter pelage of [subspecies] kernensis, which in this respect resembles [Neotamias] dorsalis and [Neotamias] obscurus (Hall, 1981)."
Museum specimens
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Holotype: AMNH MO-728, AMNH MS-1157. Neotamias merriami. Female. San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County, California. Collected 13 June 1887. -
Holotype: AMNH MO-728, AMNH MS-1157. Neotamias merriami. Female. San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County, California. Collected 13 June 1887.
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) | 233–277 | 110–124 | 30–39 | 16–18 | 60–82 |
Skull
Greatest length of skull is 36–40 mm (Sutton, 1992).
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Holotype: AMNH MO-728, AMNH MS-1157. Neotamias merriami. Female. San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County, California. Collected 13 June 1887. Dorsal view of the skull. -
Holotype: AMNH MO-728, AMNH MS-1157. Neotamias merriami. Female. San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County, California. Collected 13 June 1887. Ventral view of the skull. -
Holotype: AMNH MO-728, AMNH MS-1157. Neotamias merriami. Female. San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County, California. Collected 13 June 1887. Lateral view of the skull. -
Holotype: AMNH MO-728, AMNH MS-1157. Neotamias merriami. Female. San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County, California. Collected 13 June 1887. Dorsal view of the mandible. -
Holotype: AMNH MO-728, AMNH MS-1157. Neotamias merriami. Female. San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County, California. Collected 13 June 1887. Lateral view of the left mandible.
Similar species
References
Best TL, Granai NJ. 1994. Tamias merriami. Mammalian Species (476):1-9.
Hall ER. 1981. The mammals of North America. 2 vols. New York (NY, USA): John Wiley and Sons.
Sutton DA. 1992. Tamias amoenus. Mammalian Species (390):1-8.