Taxonomic Status of Some Mice of the Peromyscus Boylii Group in Eastern Mexico, With Description of a New Subspecie

Excerpt......Saussure (1860) described Peromyscus aztecus from southern México. Osgood (1909) by comparison of one of Saussure's specimens with some from Mirador, Veracruz, concluded that aztecus was a subspecies of P. boylii. Dalquest (1953) incorr ... Read more

Excerpt......Saussure (1860) described Peromyscus aztecus from southern México. Osgood (1909) by comparison of one of Saussure's specimens with some from Mirador, Veracruz, concluded that aztecus was a subspecies of P. boylii. Dalquest (1953) incorrectly reported specimens of P. boylii from San Luis Potosí as P. b. aztecus. Merriam (1898) named Peromyscus levipes from Mt. Malinche, Tlaxcala. Thomas (1903) described from Orizaba, Veracruz, P. beatae, which Osgood (1909) mistakenly thought was indistinguishable from P. boylii levipes. Therefore, Osgood in 1909 in his revision of the genus Peromyscus reported only two subspecies of P. boylii from eastern México: P. b. levipes, and P. b. aztecus. Study of Osgood's and Thomas' material, along with recently collected specimens from the states of eastern México, leads me to conclude that P. aztecus and P. boylii are different species; that P. beatae is a valid subspecies different from P. b. levipes; and finally that specimens of P. boylii from Nuevo León and northwestern Tamaulipas pertain to an hitherto unnamed subspecies. Less