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

[Pg 475]

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[Pg 476] 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 (14j) 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,[Pg 477] 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.