Reithrodontomys (Reithrodontomys) zacatecae Merriam 1901

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 : 1085

Reithrodontomys (Reithrodontomys) zacatecae Merriam 1901

Reithrodontomys (Reithrodontomys) zacatecae Merriam 1901 , Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci., 3: 557.

Type Locality: México, Zacatecas, Sierra de Valparaíso.

Vernacular Names: Zacatecan Harvest Mouse.

Synonyms: Reithrodontomys (Reithrodontomys) obscurus Merriam 1901 .

Distribution: W Chihuahua to WC Michoacán, México.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (nt).

Discussion: Subgenus Reithrodontomys , megalotis species group. Hooper (1952) noted the phenetic distinction of zacatecae from R. megalotis saturatus in Jalisco and Michoacán but elected to retain it as a subspecies. Karyotypic divergence of zacatecae reported by Hood et al. (1984), who proposed its elevation to species; status sustained by genetic distance levels, as sister species to R. megalotis ( Bell et al., 2001) . Distributional limits, morphological discrimination, and assignment of species-group synonyms deserve amplification.