Synaptomys (Synaptomys) cooperi Baird 1857

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 : 1038

Synaptomys (Synaptomys) cooperi Baird 1857

Synaptomys (Synaptomys) cooperi Baird 1857 , Mammalia, in: Repts. U. S. Expl. Surv., Vol. 8, 1: 558.

Type Locality: USA, New Hampshire, Carroll Co., Jackson (as fixed by Bole and Moulthrop, 1942:146).

Vernacular Names: Southern Bog Lemming.

Synonyms: Synaptomys (Synaptomys) fatuus Bangs 1896 ; Synaptomys (Synaptomys) gossii (Coues 1877) ; Synaptomys (Synaptomys) helaletes Merriam 1896 ; Synaptomys (Synaptomys) jesseni Long 1987 ; Synaptomys (Synaptomys) kentucki Barbour 1956 ; Synaptomys (Synaptomys) paludis Hibbard and Rinker 1942 ; Synaptomys (Synaptomys) relictus Jones 1958 ; Synaptomys (Synaptomys) saturatus Bole and Moulthrop 1942 ; Synaptomys (Synaptomys) stonei Rhoads 1893 .

Distribution: Midwestern and E USA through SE Canada, including Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Isl; as far south as W North Carolina and NE Arkansas; outlying populations in SW Kansas, W Nebraska, and the Dismal Swamp region of SE Virginia-NE North Carolina.

Conservation: IUCN – Extinct as S. c. paludis and S. c. relictus , otherwise Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Synaptomys . Geographic diversification within the species evaluated by Wetzel (1955), who refined the subspecific arrangement. Geographic variation among populations in the C Great Plains studied by Wilson and Choate (1997), who retained subspecies defined within the region and commented upon the conservation status of the relictual races ( paludis and relictus ) isolated at the western margin of the species distribution; for new range reports and biogeographic discussion of populations ( helaletes ) at the eastern periphery of the species distribution, see Lee and Clark (1993) and Clark et al. (1993). Using landmark data, Courant et al. (1997) demonstrated stronger convergence in cranial shape between S. cooperi and surface dwelling voles like Myodes rather than its lemming relatives. See Linzey (1983, Mammalian Species, 210).