Museum, University of Nebraska State
Date of this Version
May 1966
Abstract
Cockrum (1948 : 306-312 and 1952 : 184-187) summarized the northward movement of the hispid cotton rat, Sigmodon hispidus texianus, in Kansas. He showed that between 1933 and 1947 the cotton rat extended its distribution northward approximately 100 miles-from Greenwood and Allen counties north to Brown County, an average distance of seven miles per year. As of 1952, the northernmost record for the species was 5 mi. S Hiawatha, Brown County (obtained 29 November 1947), in northeastern Kansas. Trapping between 1945 and 1947 in Mitchell, Norton, and Thomas counties, in the central and western parts of northern Kansas, and in Richardson and Pawnee counties, in southeastern Nebraska, failed to yield additional specimens. Later, Anderson and Nelson (1958: 306) reported specimens from the following localities in north-central and northwestern Kansas: 1 mi. SW Norton, Norton County (obtained 26 August 1957); 2 mi. E Smith Center, Smith County (obtained 1 September 1957); and 1 mi. E, 1½ mi. N Ok'eto, Marshall County (obtained 18 August 1956). These records indicate a northward movement of the species into these areas of Kansas. The first specimens of the hispid cotton rat from Nebraska were reported by Jones (1960:132 and 1964: 212-214) from along the Little Nemaha River 3½ mi. S, 1 mi. M Dawson, Richardson County (obtained 15-16 November 1958).
Comments
Published in Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, Vol. 69, Nos. 3-4, 1966. Published April 25, 1967. Copyright © by the Kansas Academy of Science. Used by permission.