Comments on
the Taxonomy and Geographic Distribution
of Some North American Marsupials, Insectivores
and Carnivores

BY

E. RAYMOND HALL and KEITH R. KELSON

University of Kansas Publications
Museum of Natural History
Volume 5, No. 25, pp. 319-341
December 5, 1952

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
LAWRENCE
1952

University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History

Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, Henry S. Fitch,
Robert W. Wilson

Volume 11, No. 25, pp. 319-341
Published December 5, 1952

University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas

PRINTED IN
THE STATE PRINTING PLANT
TOPEKA, KANSAS
1959

Comments on
the Taxonomy and Geographic Distribution
of Some North American Marsupials, Insectivores
and Carnivores

BY

E. RAYMOND HALL and KEITH R. KELSON

In preparing maps showing the geographic distribution of North American mammals we have found in the literature conflicting statements and questionable identifications, which have led us to examine the specimens concerned with results as set forth below. Our studies have been aided by a contract (NR 161-791) between the Office of Naval Research, Department of the Navy, and the University of Kansas. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the persons in charge of the several collections of mammals consulted for permission to examine and study the specimens therein.

Didelphis marsupialis californica Bennett

From Cuernavaca, Morelos, Hooper (Jour. Mamm., 28:43, February 1, 1947) lists a specimen, as he says, on purely geographic grounds, as of the subspecies Didelphis mesamericana tabascensis. We have examined this specimen, an unsexed skull-only, which falls within the range of individual variation of Didelphis marsupialis californica and refer the specimen to that subspecies.

Didelphis marsupialis etensis J. A. Allen

From El Muñeco, Costa Rica, Harris (Occas. Papers, Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan, no. 476:7, October 8, 1943) lists as Didelphis richmondi a specimen (♂, No. 67550 U.M.). Our examination of the specimen shows it to be within the range of individual variation of populations that have been referred to D. m. etensis from adjoining areas. We identify the specimen as Didelphis marsupialis etensis.

Didelphis marsupialis tabascensis J. A. Allen

From Minatitlán, Veracruz, J. A. Allen (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 14:168, June 15) listed a specimen under the name Didelphis marsupialis [in the trinomial sense] instead of under the name Didelphis marsupialis tabascensis, which would be expected, on geographic grounds, to apply. The specimen is No. 78123, U.S. Nat. Mus., Biol. Surv. Coll. Our examination of the specimen reveals that it is within the range of individual variation of Didelphis marsupialis tabascensis and we identify the specimen as of that subspecies. From Yaruca, Honduras, Bangs (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 39:157, July, 1903) doubtfully listed as Didelphis yucatanensis a specimen, No. 10611, M.C.Z. Our examination of the specimen indicates that it is within the range of variation expectable in Didelphis marsupialis tabascensis, known from surrounding areas, and we identify the specimen as Didelphis marsupialis tabascensis.

Didelphis marsupialis virginiana Kerr

J. A. Allen (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 14:166, May 28, 1901) and A. H. Howell (N. Amer. Fauna, 45:20, October 28, 1921) have identified four skulls from Sylacuga, Alabama, as Didelphis virginiana pigra. The two subspecies virginiana and pigra are not known to differ cranially. We have, however, examined the skulls which are Nos. 44057-44060 in the U.S. Nat. Mus., Biol. Surv. Coll. Because they are from a place north of other localities (Auburn and Greensboro, Alabama) from which the subspecies virginiana has been recorded, and within the geographic range of virginiana, we identify the specimens as Didelphis marsupialis virginiana.

Sycamore Creek (synonymous with Fort Worth), Texas, is a place from which J. A. Allen (op. cit.:173) recorded a specimen as Didelphis marsupialis texensis. This specimen (No. 24359/31765 U. S. Nat. Mus., Biol. Surv. Coll.) is in the black color-phase. There are only a few white hairs on the hind feet, and the basal fourth of the tail is black. The black phase occurs all through the range of the species D. marsupialis and our examination of the specimen reveals no characters by which it can be distinguished from D. m. virginiana of the surrounding region and we accordingly identify the specimen as Didelphis marsupialis virginiana.

Didelphis marsupialis pigra Bangs

Davis (Jour. Mamm., 25:375, December 12, 1944) was one writer who presented evidence that Didelphis virginiana (through its subspecies virginiana or pigra or both) was only subspecifically distinct from the species Didelphis mesembrinus (= D. marsupialis) through the subspecies texensis. Davis, however, did not actually employ a name combination that would enforce his conclusion and he remarked that he had not seen specimens which showed actual intergradation in the color of the toes. As the remarks below will show, Davis (loc. cit.) was correct in his supposition that J. A. Allen had seen such specimens.

Deming Station, Matagordo, and Velasco, Texas, are three places from which J. A. Allen (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 14:162, May 28, 1901) listed specimens as Didelphis virginiana. The specimens concerned are in the Biological Surveys Collection of the U.S. Nat. Museum and bear catalogue numbers as follows: Deming Station, 32430/44266, 32432/44268, 32433/44269; Matagordo, 32431/44267; Velasco, 32812/44833. In each specimen the tail is shorter than the head and body. The specimen from Velasco is semi-black, has the basal tenth of the tail black and there is no white on the ears or tail. The specimen from Matagordo is grayish, has the basal fifth of the tail black, ears black, the right hind foot black, but there is some white on the toes of the left hind foot and on each of the forefeet. Of the three specimens from Deming Station, all are in the gray color-phase. The first has the tail black only as far from the base as there is hair and there is considerable whitish on the hind toes. The second specimen has the basal fifth of the tail black and a slight amount of whitish on the hind toes. The third specimen has the basal third of the tail black and the toes are all black. In the sum total of their characters the specimens mentioned above are referable to Didelphis marsupialis pigra. These five specimens, and indeed the three from Deming Station alone, show intergradation in coloration of the feet between Didelphis marsupialis texensis and Didelphis virginiana pigra. Probably there is three-way intergradation here at Deming Station in that D. v. virginiana immediately to the north is involved. The specimens mentioned above, along with the information recorded by Davis (loc. cit.) and other authors (for example, J. A. Allen, loc. cit., and Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 16:249-279, August 18, 1902), give basis for arranging the North American Didelphis as follows: