Peromyscus boylii 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 : 1064

Peromyscus boylii Baird 1855

Peromyscus boylii Baird 1855 , Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 7: 335.

Type Locality: USA, California, Eldorado Co., Middle Fork of American River, near Auburn.

Vernacular Names: Brush Deermouse.

Synonyms: Peromyscus gaurus Elliot 1903 ; Peromyscus glasselli Burt 1932 ; Peromyscus major ( Rhoads 1893) ; Peromyscus metallicola Elliot 1904 ; Peromyscus parasiticus Elliot 1904 ; Peromyscus pinalis (Miller 1893) ; Peromyscus robustus (J. A. Allen 1893) ; Peromyscus rowleyi (J. A. Allen 1893) ; Peromyscus utahensis Durrant 1946 .

Distribution: Much of SW USA, from N California to westernmost Oklahoma, south to N Baja California Norte and Trans-Pecos Texas (see Bradley et al., 1999 a), along the Sierra Madre Occidental and W Central Plateau to Queretaro and W Hidalgo, México.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: P. boylii species group. Many taxa previously consigned as subspecies or full synonyms by Osgood (1909) or Hall (1981) have been elevated to species: namely P. attwateri (see Schmidly, 1973), P. aztecus (see Alvarez, 1961; Carleton, 1979; Hooper, 1968), P. baetae (see Bradley and Schmidly, 1987; Schmidly et al., 1988), P. levipes (see Schmidly et al., 1988), P. madrensis (see Carleton, 1977; Carleton et al., 1982), P. simulus (see Carleton, 1977), P. sagax (see Bradley et al., 1996 a), and P. spicilegus (see Carleton, 1977). Others have been realigned with other species— cordillerae and evides under P. aztecus (Carleton, 1979) ; ambiguus under P. levipes ( Castro-Campillo et al, 1999; Schmidly et al., 1988); sacarensis under P. baetae ( Bradley et al., 2000) ; and penicillatus under P. nasutus ( Diersing, 1976) .

These changes in status and synonymy of taxa once associated under one species sensu Osgood (1909) involve the systematics of at least three species groups by current understanding. Chromosomal and molecular information suggests that yet other forms in W México await differential characterization as species (see overview by Tiemann-Boege et al., 2000). Karyotypic variation of P. boylii and its kin investigated by Houseal et al. (1987), Lee et al. (1972), and Schmidly and Schroeter (1974); biochemical and molecular variation by Avise et al. (1974), Kilpatrick and Zimmerman (1975), Rennert and Kilpatrick (1986, 1987), Sullivan et al. (1991), Tiemann-Boege et al. (2000); morphological variation by Bradley and Schmidly (1987), Carleton (1977, 1979), and Schmidly et al. (1988).