Neotoma leucodon

White-toothed Woodrat
(*Neotoma leucodon*)
White-toothed Woodrat (Neotoma leucodon)
Range
Taxonomic classification
Order:	Rodentia
Suborder:	Supramyomorpha
Infraorder:	Myomorphi
Superfamily:	Muroidea
Family:	Cricetidae
Subfamily:	Neotominae
Tribe:	Neotomini
Genus:	Neotoma
Binomial details
	Neotoma leucodon C. H. Merriam, 1894
Other resources
	Full taxonomic details at MDD

The White-toothed Woodrat (Neotoma leucodon) is a medium-sized woodrat (also called packrat) that is found in a variety of xeric habitats.

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."

Museum specimens

Holotype: USNM 151051. Neotoma leucodon warreni. Adult male. Guames Ranch, northwest corner of Baca County, Colorado. Collected 28 November 1907.
Holotype: USNM 151051. Neotoma leucodon warreni. Adult male. Guames Ranch, northwest corner of Baca County, Colorado. Collected 28 November 1907.
Holotype: USNM 50137. Neotoma leucodon leucodon. Adult male. San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Collected 14 August 1892.
Holotype: USNM 50137. Neotoma leucodon leucodon. Adult male. San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Collected 14 August 1892.

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
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

Holotype: USNM 151051. Neotoma leucodon warreni. Adult male. Guames Ranch, northwest corner of Baca County, Colorado. Collected 28 November 1907. Dorsal view of the skull.
Holotype: USNM 151051. Neotoma leucodon warreni. Adult male. Guames Ranch, northwest corner of Baca County, Colorado. Collected 28 November 1907. Ventral view of the skull.
Holotype: USNM 151051. Neotoma leucodon warreni. Adult male. Guames Ranch, northwest corner of Baca County, Colorado. Collected 28 November 1907. Lateral view of the skull.
Holotype: USNM 151051. Neotoma leucodon warreni. Adult male. Guames Ranch, northwest corner of Baca County, Colorado. Collected 28 November 1907. Dorsal view of the mandible.
Holotype: USNM 151051. Neotoma leucodon warreni. Adult male. Guames Ranch, northwest corner of Baca County, Colorado. Collected 28 November 1907. Lateral view of the mandible.
Holotype: USNM 151051. Neotoma leucodon warreni. Adult male. Arrows point to the anteromedial flexus of the anteroloph of each upper molar (M1), which is shallow.
Holotype: USNM 151051. Neotoma leucodon warreni. Adult male. Lower molars.

Taxonomic notes

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."

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."

White-toothed Woodrat (Neotoma leucodon) observed by by gabinus2003 in Durango, Mexico.
White-throated Woodrat (Neotoma albigula) observed in Arizona by Rick Overson and Laura Steger.
Holotype: USNM 151051. Neotoma leucodon warreni. Adult male. Guames Ranch, northwest corner of Baca County, Colorado. Collected 28 November 1907. Dorsal view of the skull.
Holotype: USNM 186485. Neotoma albigula albigula. Adult male. Southwest corner of Grant (Hidalgo), New Mexico. Collected 12 April 1886. Dorsal view of the skull.
Holotype: USNM 151051. Neotoma leucodon warreni. Adult male. Guames Ranch, northwest corner of Baca County, Colorado. Collected 28 November 1907. Ventral view of the skull.
Holotype: USNM 186485. Neotoma albigula albigula. Adult male. Southwest corner of Grant (Hidalgo), New Mexico. Collected 12 April 1886. Ventral view of the skull.
Holotype: USNM 151051. Neotoma leucodon warreni. Adult male. Arrows point to the anteromedial flexus of the anteroloph of each upper molar (M1), which is shallow.
Holotype: USNM 186485. Neotoma albigula albigula. Adult. Upper molars. Arrows point to the anteromedial flexus of the anteroloph of each upper molar (M1), which is shallow.

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.