Title: Mammals from Southeastern Alaska
Author: Baker, Rollin H. (Rollin Harold), 1916-2007, Findley, James S.
Language: English
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                    Mammals from Southeastern Alaska


                                   BY

                            ROLLIN H. BAKER

                                  AND

                            JAMES S. FINDLEY



                          UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

                                LAWRENCE

                                  1953



      UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY


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



                      Volume 7, No. 5, pp. 473-477

                        Published April 21, 1954



                          UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

                            Lawrence, Kansas



                               PRINTED BY

                    FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER

                             TOPEKA, KANSAS

                                  1954



                                25-1126



                    Mammals from Southeastern Alaska

                                   BY

                  ROLLIN H. BAKER and JAMES S. FINDLEY



The University of Kansas Museum of Natural History received from J. R.
Alcorn and Albert A. Alcorn a sizable collection of mammals taken in the
summer of 1951 in Alaska. In addition to visiting localities at which
they had collected in 1947 and 1948 (see Baker, Univ. Kansas Publ., Mus.
Nat. Hist., 5:87-117, 1951) the Alcorns obtained specimens from
localities not previously visited in the vicinity of Anchorage and
Haines and from Sullivan Island, a small, timbered island in the Lynn
Canal. A part of the funds for field work was made available by the
Kansas University Endowment Association. The loan of specimens for
comparative study from the Biological Surveys Collection of the United
States National Museum is acknowledged.

=_Sorex obscurus alascensis_= Merriam. Dusky Shrew.--Comparison of two
specimens from 7 miles SSE Haines and eight from Sullivan Island (six
from the northeast end of the island and two from the southeast end)
with topotypes of _Sorex obscurus longicauda_ Merriam from Wrangell,
Alaska, and with topotypes of _Sorex obscurus alascensis_ from Yakutat,
Alaska, shows that our specimens are intermediate between the two named
kinds. However in nine of ten characters these specimens more closely
resemble _S. o. alascensis_ than _S. o. longicauda_. Measurements of
specimens from Wrangell and from localities progressively northward
along the Alaskan coast reveal a decrease in size of the skull in a
clinal fashion. Specimens from Sullivan Island are larger than those
from the mainland south of Haines, which are in turn larger than
specimens from 9 miles W and 4 miles N of Haines (reported upon by
Baker, _op. cit._). No step is apparent in this cline and assignment of
specimens must be made on a somewhat arbitrary basis. Specimens from
Juneau, Alaska, in the Biological Surveys Collection of the United
States National Museum, were assigned by Jackson (N. Amer. Fauna, 51:
128, 1928) to _S. o. alascensis_ but seem to us to be closer to _S. o.
longicauda_.

=_Sorex palustris navigator_= (Baird). Water Shrew.--Two males taken on
August 5, at Peters Creek, elevation 300 ft., 20 miles NE of Anchorage
provide a northwestern extension of the known range of this species. In
external and cranial characters the males resemble _S. p. navigator_
from 9 miles W and 4 miles N of Haines, Alaska, and from Washington
County, Idaho. The specimens from Peters Creek do not agree with the
description of _Sorex alaskanus_ Merriam as given by Jackson (_op.
cit._:189) although one, a second year animal, has the lambdoidal crests
exceptionally well developed, as does _S. alaskanus_.

=_Myotis lucifugus lucifugus_= (LeConte). Little Brown Myotis.--A male
taken at Peters Creek, elevation 300 ft., 20 miles NE of Anchorage, is
darker than specimens assigned to this subspecies from northeastern
British Columbia (Muncho Lake). Eight skins and skulls (three adults and
five young of the year) and 18 specimens in alcohol taken at Screw
Creek, elevation 2600 ft., mile 742 (10 miles S and 50 miles E Teslin,
Yukon Territory), British Columbia, seem typical of _M. l. lucifugus_.
These were obtained on August 11, 1951, at the same locality where on
July 1, 1947, a single bat assigned to _M. l. alascensis_ Miller was
taken (see Baker, _op. cit._:95). The latter specimen is readily
distinguished by its darker color both above and below from those taken
in 1951.

=_Tamiasciurus hudsonicus kenaiensis_= Howell. Red Squirrel.--A female
taken at Peters Creek, elevation 300 ft., 20 miles NE of Anchorage, is
referred to this subspecies after comparison with the published
description of _T. h. kenaiensis_ Howell (Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington,
49:136, 1936), with specimens of _T. h. preblei_ Howell from Yerrick
Creek, Alaska, and with _T. h. petulans_ (Osgood) from 1 mile S of
Haines.

=_Tamiasciurus hudsonicus petulans_= (Osgood). Red Squirrel.--Three
specimens were taken on Chilkat Peninsula, elevation 10 ft., 7 miles SSE
of Haines, Alaska, and one at the southeast end of Sullivan Island.
These squirrels, taken in June and July, are molting on the sides, back
and rump. Compared with the specimens from the mainland the male from
Sullivan Island is paler on the back--near (_h_) Ochraceous-Tawny
instead of near (14_j_) Sudan Brown (capitalized color terms from
Ridgway, Color Standards and Color Nomenclature, Washington, D. C.,
1912)--and paler on the tail; otherwise this specimen resembles those
from the mainland.

=_Peromyscus maniculatus algidus_= Osgood. Deer Mouse.--Osgood (N. Amer.
Fauna, 28:54, 1909) reported intergradation between _P. m. algidus_ and
_P. m. hylaeus_ Osgood in the "region of Lynn Canal." One female from
the mouth of the Endicott River, elevation 10 ft., seems referable to
_algidus_. In comparison with two topotypes of _hylaeus_ this specimen
is not so dark and more nearly agrees with _algidus_ from the Chilkat
River, from 1 mile W of Haines and from Dezadeash Lake, Yukon Territory.

=_Phenacomys intermedius mackenzii_= Preble. Mountain Phenacomys.--An
adult female was taken on 28 July at the southwestern end of Dezadeash
Lake, elevation 2400 ft., in Yukon Territory (approximately 60 miles
from the Alaskan boundary north of the Lynn Canal), the same place where
a specimen was obtained in 1948 (see Baker, _op. cit._:104).

=_Microtus longicaudus littoralis_= Swarth. Long-tailed Vole.--Six of
these voles were taken on Sullivan Island (two at the northeast end and
four at the southeast end) and another was trapped on the mainland at
the mouth of the Endicott River. All seven resemble _M. l. littoralis_
from the vicinity of Haines. One large adult male from the island has
the following measurements: Total length, 202; length of tail, 71;
length of hind foot, 21; height of ear from notch, 13.

=_Microtus oeconomus macfarlani_= Merriam. Tundra Vole.--Five specimens
from 5 miles NNE of Gulkana, Alaska, 1700 ft., and four from Peters
Creek, elevation 300 ft., 20 miles NE of Anchorage, Alaska, are assigned
to this subspecies. In color they resemble _macfarlani_ from eastern
Alaska (14 miles E and 25 miles N of Fairbanks) and are darker than _M.
o. operarius_ (Nelson) from Tyonek, but judging from the description by
Bailey (N. Amer. Fauna, 17:41, 1900), are not so dark as _M. o.
yakutatensis_ Merriam. These mice were taken inland from the coast. It
is likely that the coastal population more nearly resembles either
_operarius_ or _yakutatensis_.

=_Erethizon dorsatum myops_= Merriam. Porcupine.--Skulls of two females
obtained from the Chilkat Peninsula, elevation 10 ft., 7 miles SSE of
Haines, Alaska, agree with those of the same sex of _myops_ from Yerrick
Creek, Alaska, and from 2 miles W of the Teslin River, Yukon Territory.
The skull of the older animal has the longer nasals and more pronounced
cranial ridges, which perhaps indicate a tendency toward _E. d.
nigrescens_ Allen, which occurs to the southward (see Anderson, Canadian
Jour. Res., 21:304, 1943).

_Transmitted October 8, 1953._





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