General Notes: Bacula of Dipodomys Ordii Compactus and Dipodomys Elator
Jannett FJ. 1976. General Notes: Bacula of Dipodomys Ordii Compactus and Dipodomys Elator. Journal of Mammalogy. 57(2):382-387
Bacular variation in most species of Dipodomys was analyzed by Best and Schnell (1974), who had only two specimens of D. ordii compactus and four of D. elator. Both forms are of particular evolutionary interest. D. elator is a relict species whose range is confined to a few counties in Texas and Oklahoma (Martin and Matocha, 1972), and Wood (1935) considered D. o. compactus on the basis of tooth pattern to be the most primitive living form of Dipodomys that was available to him for study. This note presents additional data on the bacula of D. elator and D. o. compactus, and on age variation in the latter. It also points out anatomical differences in the bacula not previously described in the literature, and it discusses phylogenetic relationships of D. elator, a species for which the conclusions drawn by a numerical analysis of bacular data (Best and Schnell, 1974) and karyotypic data (Stock, 1974) are opposed.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Jannett, Frederick
- Units
- PAIS
- Keywords
- bacula, Dipodomys elator, Dipodomys ordii compactus, Padre Island National Park, PAIS