Neotamias obscurus
| California Chipmunk
(Neotamias obscurus) | |
|---|---|
| Range | |
 | |
| Taxonomic classification | |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Suborder: | Sciuromorpha |
| Family: | Sciuridae |
| Subfamily: | Xerinae |
| Tribe: | Tamiini |
| Genus: | Neotamias |
| Binomial details | |
| Neotamias obscurus (J. A. Allen, 1890) | |
| Other resources | |
| Full taxonomic details at MDD | |
The California Chipmunk (Neotamias obscurus) is commonly is found in pinyon-juniper woodlands and pineoak forests in California and Baja California, Mexico.
Description
From Best and Granai (1994): "In summer pelage (July-September), the top of the head is pale smoke-gray, shaded with pinkish cinnamon, and bordered on the sides with a narrow stripe of bister or snuff brown. Sides of the nose are clay color or cinnamon buff. The dark facial stripes are mikado brown and the ocular stripe is fuscous black around the eye. The pale facial stripes are pale smoke gray. The ears are mouse gray or chaetura drab, washed on the posterior one-half with pale buff or soiled whitish. The postauricular patches are grayish white. The dark dorsal stripes are mikado brown or russet, with the median one blackish in the posterior one-half. The median pair of pale stripes is smoke-gray or pale smoke-gray. The outer pair is grayish white. The sides are sayal brown, shoulders are pale smoke-gray with pinkish buff, and rump and thighs are grayish white mixed with clay color or cinnamon giving a general tone near neutral gray. The hind feet are cinnamon buff or pinkish buff, and the forefeet are pinkish buff. The tail is fuscous black dorsally, overlaid with pinkish buff. Ventrally, the tail is tawny, bordered with fuscous black and edged with pinkish buff. The underparts are creamy white. The color of winter pelage (November) is similar to that of summer pelage, but the general tone of the upperparts is darker in the dorsal stripes, which usually are less distinct and often nearly indistinguishable. The sides are washed with pale sayal brown or cinnamon buff (color nomenclature follows Ridgway, 1912-Howell, 1929)."
Museum images
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Holotype: USNM 018050. Neotamias obscurus obscurus. Adult female. San Pedro Martir Mountains, near Vallecitos, Baja California. Collected 1 May 1889. -
Holotype: USNM 018050. Neotamias obscurus obscurus. Adult female. San Pedro Martir Mountains, near Vallecitos, Baja California. Collected 1 May 1889. -
Holotype: USNM 018050. Neotamias obscurus obscurus. Adult female. San Pedro Martir Mountains, near Vallecitos, Baja California. Collected 1 May 1889. -
Holotype: USNM 398642. Neotamias obscurus davisi. Adult female. Barker’s Reservoir, San Bernardino County, California. Collected 5 August 1974. -
Holotype: USNM 398642. Neotamias obscurus davisi. Adult female. Barker’s Reservoir, San Bernardino County, California. Collected 5 August 1974. -
Holotype: USNM 398642. Neotamias obscurus davisi. Adult female. Barker’s Reservoir, San Bernardino County, California. Collected 5 August 1974.
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) | 208–240 | 75–120 | 30–37 | 13–40 | 70–90 |
Skull
Greatest length of skull is 33–40 mm (Sutton, 1992).
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Holotype: USNM 018050. Neotamias obscurus. Adult female. San Pedro Martir Mountains, near Vallecitos, Baja California. Collected 1 May 1889. Dorsal view of the skull. -
Holotype: USNM 018050. Neotamias obscurus. Adult female. San Pedro Martir Mountains, near Vallecitos, Baja California. Collected 1 May 1889. Ventral view of the skull. -
Holotype: USNM 018050. Neotamias obscurus. Adult female. San Pedro Martir Mountains, near Vallecitos, Baja California. Collected 1 May 1889. Lateral view of the skull. -
Holotype: USNM 018050. Neotamias obscurus. Adult female. San Pedro Martir Mountains, near Vallecitos, Baja California. Collected 1 May 1889. Dorsal view of the mandible. -
Holotype: USNM 018050. Neotamias obscurus. Adult female. San Pedro Martir Mountains, near Vallecitos, Baja California. Collected 1 May 1889. Lateral view of the left mandible.
Similar species
Neotamias obscurus, Merriam's Chipmunk (Neotamias merriami), and the Lodgepole Chipmunk (Neotamias speciosus) are sympatric in the San Bernardino Mountains and in the San Jacinto Mountains of southern California (Best and Granai, 1994). The three species can be distinguished by the ossa genitalia (Blankenship, 1985; Callahan, 1976; Callahan, 1977).
References
Allen JA. 1890-06. A review of some of the North American ground squirrels of the genus Tamias. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 3(4):45-116.
Best TL, Granai NJ. 1994. Tamias obscurus. Mammalian Species (472):1-6. https://doi.org/10.2307/3504179
Blankenship DJ. 1985. Reproductive isolating mechanisms of southern California chipmunks: a systematic evaluation of Tamias obscurus Allen, 1890 and T. merriami Allen, 1889 (Rodentia: Sciuridae). Ph.D. dissert., Lorna Linda University, Lorna Linda, California, 137 pp.
Callahan JR. 1976. Systematics and biogeography of the Eutamias obscurus complex (Rodentia: Sciuridae). Ph.D. dissert., The University of Arizona, Tucson, 184 pp.
Callahan JR. 1977. Diagnosis of Eutamias obscurus (Rodentia: Sciuridae). Journal of Mammalogy, 58:188-201.
Jameson EW, Peeters HJ. 2004. Mammals of California (No. 66). Berkeley (CA, USA): University of California Press.
Sutton DA. 1992. Tamias amoenus. Mammalian Species (390):1-8.