Museum, University of Nebraska State

 

Date of this Version

12-24-1980

Citation

Annals of the Carnegie Museum (December 24, 1980) 49(article 23): 405-452.

Comments

Copyright 1980, Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Used by permission.

Abstract

The nominal species of southeastern pocket gophers (Geomys pinetis, G. colonus, G. cumberlandius, and G. fontanelus), which collectively occupy a geographic range on the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plain of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, were examined for morphological variation. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine age, sexual, individual, and geographic variation in G. pinetis. Significant differences were found among different age classes and between sexes. Males displayed higher individual variation than females and external measurements were more variable than cranial measurements. Of the four named species in the pinetis-species group (colonus, cumberlandius, fontanelus, and pinetis), only Geomys pinetis is recognized as a distinct species. In G. pinetis, only two subspecies, G. p. fontanelus and G. p. pinetis, were recognized after analyses of geographic variation.

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