Museum, University of Nebraska State
Date of this Version
1918
Abstract
In 1908 I referred our Nebraska otters to L. c. sonora (Rhoads), basing this conclusion on the mounted specimen in the University Museum, because of its large size and pallor, that being the only Nebraska specimen in any collection in the state at that time, and, so far as known to me, the only Nebraska specimen extant except the young female in the U. S. National Museum mentioned above. In 1915 I repeated this identification. The taking of a fine old male otter with a perfect skull in eastern Nebraska in 1916 reopened the whole question, and a close study has indicated that the Nebraska animal could not be referred to sonora because of its short, stout, postorbital processes, nor yet to typical canadensis because of its larger body size, paleness and less crowded teeth. I propose, therefore, that the Nebraska otter be regarded as more or less intermediate, subspecifically distinct from both under the name Lutra canadensis interior subsp. nov.
Comments
Published in UNIVERSITY STUDIES, vol. 18, nos. 1-2 (JANUARY-APRIL 1918), pp. 1-6.