Neotoma (Neotoma) mexicana Baird 1855

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Cricetidae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 955-1189 : 1058

Neotoma (Neotoma) mexicana Baird 1855

Neotoma (Neotoma) mexicana Baird 1855 , Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 7: 333.

Type Locality: México, Chihuahua, mountains near Chihuahua.

Vernacular Names: Mexican Woodrat.

Synonyms: Neotoma (Neotoma) atrata Burt 1939 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) bullata Merriam 1894 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) chamula Goldman 1909 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) distincta Bangs 1903 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) eremita Hall 1955 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) fallax Merriam 1894 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) ferruginea Tomes 1862 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) fulviventer Merriam 1894 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) griseoventer Dalquest 1951 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) inopinata Goldman 1933 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) inornata Goldman 1938 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) isthmica Goldman 1904 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) madrensis Goldman 1905 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) navus Merriam 1903 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) ochracea Goldman 1905 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) orizabae Merriam 1894 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) parvidens Goldman 1904 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) picta Goldman 1904 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) pinetorum Merriam 1893 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) scopulorum Finley 1953 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) sinaloae J. A. Allen 1898 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) solitaria Goldman 1905 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) tenuicauda Merriam 1892 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) torquata Ward 1891 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) tropicalis Goldman 1904 ; Neotoma (Neotoma) vulcani Sanborn 1935 .

Distribution: SE Utah and C Colorado, USA, southwards through W and interior México, to highlands of Guatemala, El Salvador, and W Honduras.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Neotoma , mexicana species group ( sensu Edwards and Bradley, 2002 b ). Goldman (1910) recognized the synonyms listed here under seven species, an early view on diversity uncritically overturned during the broad-brushed application of the biological species concept ( Hall, 1955; Hooper, 1955). However, a composite of three or more species, e.g., as indicated by the comments of Sánchez-Hernández et al. (1999) on the morphological distinctiveness of tenuicauda and torquata in Michoacán, and by the findings of Edwards and Bradley (2002 a) on the large genetic distances recorded among US and Méxican populations. Using mitochondrial DNA sequences, Edwards and Bradley (2002 b) subsequently elevated two epithets, isthmica and picta , to species, but the few specimens examined and very limited geographic representation of each raise questions about their eventual application to the genetic groups identified. The status of these forms, and others such as ferruginea , sinaloae , and torquata , merits reconsideration in the context of a full systematic revision that treats N. angustapalata and N. chrysomelas , that broadens sampling to include pivotal older names, and that integrates morphological and molecular information.

Nearly all species-group epithets are recognized as subspecies (e.g., Hall, 1955, 1981), a formality that is unwarranted given the stronger need for basic specific revision. Using allozymic data, Sullivan (1994) studied genetic divergence and biogeographic patterns among montane populations in Arizona and New Mexico; low-elevation records in Utah and their implications for inter-mountain colonization and Great Basin biogeography discussed by Grayson et al. (1996). See Cornely and Baker (1986, Mammalian Species, 262) .