University of Kansas Publications
Museum of Natural History

Volume 7, No. 4, pp. 349-472, 47 figures in text, 4 tables
April 21, 1954

North American Jumping Mice
(Genus Zapus)

BY

PHILIP H. KRUTZSCH

University of Kansas
Lawrence
1954

University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History

Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, A. Byron Leonard, Robert W. Wilson

Volume 7, No. 4, pp. 349-472, 47 figures in text, 4 tables
Published April 21, 1954

University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas

PRINTED BY
FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER
TOPEKA, KANSAS
1954

25-1128

The jumping mice (Genus Zapus) are widely distributed over northern North America, occurring as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far south as Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, and central California. In some years these small rodents are locally common in moist places that are either grassy or weedy; the jumping mice are notable for the much enlarged hind legs and the exceptionally long tail.

Members of the Genus as a whole have received no serious comprehensive taxonomic attention in the 54 years since Preble’s (1899) revisionary work. In this time 15 new names have been proposed, mostly for subspecies, and only a few attempts have been made at grouping related named kinds.

In the present account it is aimed to record what is known concerning geographic distribution, taxonomically significant characters, and interrelationships of the known kinds as well as to provide means for recognizing the species and subspecies in the genus. In addition, attention is given to the probable center of origin of the subfamily Zapodinae and to the relationships and taxonomic positions of the genera Zapus, Napaeozapus, and Eozapus.

The present report is based on a study of approximately 3,600 specimens that were assembled at the Museum of Natural History of the