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 (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, [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.