Description of a new weasel from Alabama

Vol.

XXVI,

pp. 139-140

May

21, 1913

PROCEEDINGS

OFTHE

BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

DESCRIPTION OF ^A NEW WEASEL FROM ALABAMA.

BY ARTHUR

^II.

HOWELL.

uj

^'

Weasels

are

exceedingly

^scarce

and _very

difficult to

obtain

ⁱⁿ the

Southern

States.

Within

_{the past}

_year

three

specimens,

representing

both winter and summer

_pelage,

have been

received

from Alabama _by

the Biological

Survey, and

these

seem

to represent

an undescribed

subspecies, closely related to

Muxtda

_peninsvlae

(Rhoads).

The

acquisition ^{of this} material is

due

to the

energy

^of

Mr.

Lewis

S.

Golsan

of Autaugaville,

and Mr. Bennington King

^of

Leighton, who,

^at

my

suggestion,

made

_special efforts toobtain

specimens

^{of the}

Alabama Weasel.

The new

race

may

be characterized as follows:

Mustela

_peninsulaeolivacea subsp. nov.

Type from Autaugaville, Ala. c? ad. No. _180,802, U. S. National

Mu-

seum, Biological Survey Collection.

December

22, 1912. Collected by

L. S. Golsan. Original No. 144 (9988x).

Characters.

—

Similarto

M.

peninsulae,butcolor in winter pelage decid- edly paler

and more

olivaceous; yellowish^{of feet}lessextensive.

Color.

— _Type

(winter pelage): upperparts nearest ^to butty-brown (of Ridgway)^; head _{slightly darker,} about Natal brown; a small patch ^of white

on

each side of facebehind the_eyes,

and

afew flecks ofwhite

on

top ^of nose; color of upperparts covering about half of front feet, the remainder, including toes, being cream-bmT; ^{toes of hind feet} tinged witb whitish; black ^tail tip about 70

mm.

ⁱⁿ _length; underparts straw- color, irregularly blotched withcartridge-buff.

Summer

_pelage.

—

(Specimens from Leighton,

Alabama):

_upperparts

mummy-brown;

^head

Vandyke brown

^{with a lew white flecks between} the eyes; underpartscartridge-buffto colonial bull'; color of upperparts encroaching on ^the belly; toes of front feetcream _color; those of hind

feettinged with whitish.

34—Proc.Biol. Soc.Wash., Vol. xxvr,1913. (139)

140

Proceedings of ^the Biological Society of

Washington.

Skull.

—

Similar to that of peninsulae, with broad _{braincase, widely} spreadingzygomata, large post-orbital processes, broad

and much

inflated audita! bullae, broadinter-pterygoidfossa

and

_heavymolars.

The

bullae areof essentiallythe

same

_shape asthoseofpeninsulae but are not quite sohigh.

Measurements.

— _Type

(d⁷¹ ad.): total length, 420; ^tail vertebrae, 140 hind _foot, 50. Skull: occi_pito-nasal length, 48; basilar length, 46.8 palatal length, 21.6; mastoid _{breadth, 25.3;} zygomatic breadth, 29.3 breadth across post-orbital processes, 14; least interorbital breadth, 9 audital _bullae, 15

x

_7.0; widthofinter-pterygoidfossa,^3.5.

Remarks.

— _On

accountofthe scarcity in collections of Mustela _penin- sulae peninsulae^, the range^{ofcolorvariation in that raceis not}

known.

The

two winter specimens ^before me, however, ^differwidely, thepalest one (No. 9379, Coll. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila.,

Tarpon

Springs, Florida) being about

Verona-brown

(of Ridgway), ^{the other a}

much

^darker shadeofbrown.

Both

aredarker

and

browner than_{the type}ofolivacea.

The summer

_pelage of peninsulae ^is not _definitely

known,

but a

worn

specimen from

Hernando

Co., Florida, ^is decidedly lighter than the specimens ^{of olivacea} from Leigh^ton.

The

latter do not differ

much

in color ofthe upperpartsfromcertainspecimens^ofnoveboracensis, butthe underparts^{area duller}shadeofyellow.

Thisweasel

may

be instantly recognizedas distinctfrom Mustelanovebo- racensis by^itsstriking^skullcharacters.

The

latter species ranges

down

the Alleghenies^to northern Alabama, ^asevidenced

by

^atypicalspecimen whichIcollected on Lookout

Mountain

near Fort Payne, ⁱⁿ July, 1911.