The status of Sorex merriami, with description of an allied new species from Utah

Vol. XXII, ^pp. 51-54 April 17, 1909

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON

THE STATUS OF SOREX MERRIAMI, WITH DESCRIP- TION OF AN ALLIED NEW SPECIES FROM UTAH.

BY WILFRED

H.

OSGOOD.

Some

twenty-five years ago, Maj. Chas. E. Bendire ^collected a small

shrew

near Fort_Custer,

Montana. The

_specimen,pre- served in alcohol, subsequently passed ^into the

hands

of Dr.

G.

E.

Dobson, who

cited it in

1890

as the type ^{of his Sorex} merriami.

Owing

^{toa chain of} circumstances, suspicion then arose that Dr.

Dobson had

accidentally associated a skull of

some Old World shrew

with thealcoholic

specimen from Mon-

tana,

and

the

name

_merriami,

_though

retained in

most

_syste- matic works, has ^since been

somewhat

in abeyance.

The

case

was

stated by Dr.

Merriam,

in 1895, as follows^:*

"

The

type

and

_only

known specimen

^{ofthisremarkable}

shrew was

_presented to

me _by

Maj. Charles E. Bendire,

who

collected itat the post garden,

on

the Little Big

Horn

_River, about a mile

and

ahalf above FortCuster, Mont.,

December

_26, 1884.

I sent_it, with all

my

other shrews, ^to Dr.

George

E.

Dobson, who was

then engaged

on

a

monographic

^{revisionoftheSoricidse.}

Unfortunately,

owing

^{to Dr.}

Dobson's

continued ill health, ^all thathas ever been published ^{of this}

monograph

^{is afasciculus}

of plates,

showing

^the jaws

and

teeth ofcertain _species, with a page ^of explanation facing each _plate.

(Monog.

Insectivora, Part III, fasc. 1,

May,

1890.)

The

present species ^is

named and

its peculiar dentition

shown

in

PL _XXIII,

_{fig. 6,} of this work.

But

the remarkable shape ^ofthepalate

and

peculiarities ofthe skull as a

whole

are not

shown. The

skull

was removed from

the alcoholic

specimen by

^Dr.

Dobson, and

I

have some-

times

wondered whether by any

possibleaccidentitcould

have

been transposed with ^thatof

some

Asiatic _species, it is so very

*North AmericanFauna, No.10.pp.SS-sy,Dec.31,1895.

8—Proc.Biol.Soc,Wash., XXII,1909. (51)

52 Osgood

—

_{Status of}Sorex merriami.

unlike all

known American

shrewe.

When

the

specimen was

returnedthe alcoholicbore

my

^{originallabel}

^{and number}

^(1001),

but the skull

was numbered

differently (1886; ^its proper

num-

beris4861). Dr.

Dobson

afterwards wrote

me

that his

number was an

_error,

and

that the skull belonged ^to

my

^alcoholic

^No.

1001."

Since thisaccount

no

further _light

upon

^theunfortunatecase

was

obtained until the

summer

of 1908, at

which

_time, while engaged ^{in field}

work

in southern

Utah

forthe Biological Sur- vey, ^I

had

the

good

^{fortunetosecure a}

shrew

_{closelyresembling} thetype ^{of -S. merriami.} This appears ^to

remove

all

doubt

as to the validity ^of merriami as

an American

_species

and

to

make

itpractically certain that Dr.

Dobson

'stype

was

as he supposed, both skin

and

skull

from

Fort _Custer,

Montana.

The Utah specimen

agrees with merriami in its

most

_pro-

nounced

characters, as dentition, shortness^of palate,

and

thick- ness of rostrum, but ^differs sufficiently in size

and

_depth of braincase to

warrant

separate recognition. Externally,^{it differs}

from

all other

American

shrews in its pale color, particularly its

creamy

white underparts

and

white feet.

These

characters are

more

^orlessevident in the alcoholictype ^of merriami,

and

it is not

improbable

that in both _species they ^{are correlated} with a _relativelyarid habitat.

The Utah specimen was

caught about

two hundred

_yards

from running

^water

on

a dry rocky

Upper ^Sonoran

slope,

where

the vegetation

was

scant

and

practicallyrestricted to Juniperus, Artemisia,

and

_Atriplex.

Sorex leucogenys sp. nov.

Type from^the

month

of the canyon ^of Beaver _River, abont 3 miles east of Beaver,Beaver _Co., Utah. No. _157,952U. 8. National Mnsenm,

Biolo^;icalHnrveyCollection. 9 ^ad. Ang. 12, 1!)0S.

W.

H. _Osgood.

Characters.

—

_Similar to Sorex merriami, hut sHghtly larger, with a deeper, more elevated hraincase. Taildecidedly shorter than head and

))ody^; color pale; ^{skull witli tliick} lieavy rostrum and short lyroad palate; third nnicuspid sHghtlylargerthanfourth.

Color.

—

_{Upperparts pale} hrownish drab; lower sides sUglitly paler than V)ack, with distinct traces of clear ecru drab; underparts i)nre

creamy white,^tlielightterminal parts ^of the hairs _relatively l)r()ad and almost entirely sul)duing the plumbeous undercolor; ^{hairs of} chin and

sides of facefrom _justbelowtheeye^totheend of the nose pure creamy whiteto roots; whiskers white, except afew _upi)er ones blackish at the base; ^feet white; ^tail brownisli drab _above, white atextreme _tij), and whitebelow.

Osgood

—

_{Status of}Sorex merriami.

53

Skull and teeth.

— _Much

as in Sorex merriami, ^l)ut slightly larger;

braincase decidedly deeper, notabruptly elevated, butsloping gradually upwardⁱⁿthe plane from the anterior narestothe supraoccipital^; palate broadand sub-triangular, with scarcely any ^{deflection of its boundaries} between the unicuspid and the molariform series; second _unieuspid largest; third decidedly larger than _fourth, its apex slightly inclined backward; ^fifthunicuspid unpigmented, small, wide and antero-poster- iorly compressed; ^firstfour unicuspidsrelativelyhigh and_laterally com-

pressed, lackingan innerlateralcusplet orpigmentedridgefrom apex^to cingulum (in this respect, agreeingcloselywith,S'. richnrdsoni); ^inferior cusps ^of middle upper ^incisors small; ^first mandibular incisor with inferior cusps

much

_reduced, scarcely more than _slight undulations;

third lowerincisorratherhighand narrow, with ^its posterior secondary cusp reduced.

Measureinenfx.—TyY^i.': Totallength, 107; ^tailvertebrae,88; hind_foot, 12.5. Skull: (ireatest length, 17.2; greatest breadth of braincase, 8.4;

interorbital bri'adth, 3.7; length ^of bony palate, 7; postpalatal length, 7.5; greatest widthbetween outersides oflast upper molars, 5.2; length ofmaxillary toothrow, ^7.4.