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montanus, in Wyoming and Colorado, by Sydney Anderson

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Title: Subspeciation in the Meadow Mouse, Microtus montanus, in Wyoming and Colorado

Author: Sydney Anderson

Release Date: March 22, 2010 [EBook #31730]

Language: English

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UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Volume 7, No. 7, pp. 489-506, 2 figures in text

July 23, 1954

Subspeciation in the Meadow Mouse,
Microtus montanus, in Wyoming
and Colorado

BY

SYDNEY ANDERSON

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

LAWRENCE

1954

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, A. Byron Leonard,
Robert W. Wilson

Volume 7, No. 7, pp. 489-506, 2 figures in text

Published July 23, 1954

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

Lawrence, Kansas

PRINTED BY

FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER

TOPEKA, KANSAS

1954

25-3560

Subspeciation in the Meadow Mouse, Microtus montanus, in Wyoming and
Colorado

BY

SYDNEY ANDERSON

_Microtus montanus_ reaches the eastern limits of its geographic
distribution in Wyoming and Colorado. There the mountains, but in
general not the lowlands, are occupied by this species. A certain
minimum of moisture may be of direct importance to the mouse and
certainly is indirectly important, because certain hydrophytic or
mesophytic grasses used by the mouse for food, for protection from
enemies, and for shelter from the elements are dependent on the
moisture. Areas suitable for _Microtus montanus_ are separated by
deserts that are dominated by sagebrush and other xerophytic plants or
by forests or rocky exposures at higher altitudes. A relatively small
percentage, probably less than ten per cent, of the total area even in
the more favorable parts of the range of