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The 146 kinds of native mammals of 120 species found in Tamaulipas belong to 72 genera of 25 families of 10 orders. Non-native mammals introduced by man are not included.
The opossum occurs throughout Tamaulipas but is commonest in the south, especially in the areas of tropical forest and along water courses. Most of the specimens examined were caught in steel traps baited with remains of small animals (mostly mammals and birds, but one trap was baited with the head of a black bass). At Villa Mainero five individuals were caught in one night in five of seven traps scented with spilogale musk. These traps were set in runways along a thick thorn-brush fence, which separated a cornfield from thorn-brush desert. Along the Río Purificación 36 kilometers north and 10 kilometers west of Victoria an opossum was eaten in a trap by a small carnivore, probably a felid judging from tracks around the trap.
A female with 14 pouch young was taken in June in the Sierra de Tamaulipas and weighed 1350 grams; a March-taken female with nine small young in her pouch, from Soto la Marina, weighed 1800 grams. A male from the Sierra de Tamaulipas also weighed 1800 grams.
1833. Didelphis Californica Bennett, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 40, May 17, type locality restricted to Sonora by Hershkovitz (infra).
1951. Didelphis marsupialis californica, Hershkovitz Fieldiana-Zool., Chicago Nat. Hist. Mus., 31(47):548, July 10.
Distribution in Tamaulipas.—Southeastern part of state, north at least to Soto la Marina.
In studying Tamaulipan specimens, I was mindful that Hershkovitz (1951:550) regarded all opossums of this species in México as a single subspecies, even though J. A. Allen (1901) recognized two subspecies in the northeastern part of the Republic. According to Allen (p. 172), D. m. texensis (to which he ascribed a distribution in Texas and adjoining Tamaulipas) was described as: "Similar in coloration to D. marsupialis (typica) [D. m. californica], but with a relatively longer tail, longer nasals, usually terminating posteriorly in an acute angle, instead of being rounded or more or less abruptly truncated on the posterior border." The available material from Tamaulipas can be divided into two groups on the basis of shape and proportion of the nasals. In opossums from the southeast the nasals are truncate posteriorly and average 47.0 (45.1-48.4) per cent of the condylobasal length, whereas in specimens from elsewhere the nasals are acute posteriorly and average 50.7 (49.7-51.8) per cent of the condylobasal length. Tentatively, therefore, I follow Allen in recognizing two subspecies in northeastern México.
I note no especial difference in length of tail between texensis and californica. Hooper (1951:3) followed Hershkovitz in reporting as californica a specimen from Rancho del Cielo; to me, specimens from this area are referable to texensis.
One of the specimens from two miles south and 10 miles west of Piedra (54917) has a supernumerary tooth lingual and anterior to the last upper molar. The tooth is small (2.7 mm. long) and peglike.
Records of occurrence.—Specimens examined, 8: 3 mi. N Soto la Marina, 1; 2 mi. S, 10 mi. W Piedra, 12,000 ft., 7.
Additional records: Matamoros (Baird, 1858:234); Altamira (J. A. Allen, 1901:167).
1901. Didelphis marsupialis texensis J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Hist., 14:172, June 15, type from Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas.
Distribution in Tamaulipas.—Northern, central and southwestern parts of state.
Records of occurrence.—Specimens examined, 7: San Fernando, 180 ft., 1; Villa Mainero, 1700 ft., 2; 36 km. N, 10 km. W Cd. Victoria (1 km. E El Barretal), on Río Purificación, 1; 12 km. N, 4 km. W Cd. Victoria, 1; Ejido Santa Isabel (12 km. S Llera), 2 km. W Pan-American Highway, 2000 ft., 1; 4 mi. N Jaumave, 2500 ft., 1.
Additional records: Matamoros (J. A. Allen, 1901:173); El Mulato, San Carlos Mts. (Dice, 1937:249); Rancho del Cielo (Hooper, 1953:3).
1901. Metachirus fuscogriseus pallidus J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 14:215, July 3, type from Orizaba, Veracruz.
1955. Philander opossum pallidus, Miller and Kellogg, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 205:8, March 3.
Distribution in Tamaulipas.—Known only from along eastern side of Sierra Madre Oriental, north to vicinity of La Purisima.
In Tamaulipas, the four-eyed opossum is seemingly common at relatively low elevations in the Tropical Deciduous Forest along the eastern side of the Sierra Madre Oriental, but the species is not restricted to this area as one specimen is available from a place seven kilometers southwest of La Purisima, in the drier forest of west-central Tamaulipas. The highest elevation at which individuals have been taken in the state is approximately 2500 feet.
Specimens obtained two kilometers west of El Carrizo were caught in steel traps that were baited with the bodies of small birds and mammals and that were set in trails leading through a fence of piled logs that separated a cornfield from adjacent forest. At Rancho Pano Ayuctle, some individuals were trapped in steel sets baited with scraps of meat; others were shot at night in the forest along the Río Sabinas. Schaldach reported in his notes that four-eyed opossums robbed trap lines set for small mammals at Rancho Pano Ayuctle. W. W. Dalquest trapped an individual seven kilometers southwest of La Purisima using the body of an armadillo as bait. The natives of southern Tamaulipas refer to this animal as "tlacuache cuatrojos."
Tamaulipan specimens of P. o. pallidus differ from topotypes and other specimens from the vicinity of the type locality in averaging somewhat paler dorsally and slightly smaller in cranial dimensions when specimens of equal age are compared. They differ also in having a longer terminal area of white on the tail, 53.1 per cent (43.3-62.8) of the length of the tail in 13 specimens from Tamaulipas, and 38.7 (30.9-48.2) per cent in 14 specimens from the vicinity of the type locality of pallidus in Veracruz; specimens from northern Veracruz are intermediate between the two mentioned populations in amount of white on the tail. Baker (1951:210) noted that the specimens from two kilometers west of El Carrizo had "proportionately longer tails than typical P. o. pallidus from central Veracruz," but I do not find this character to be consistent in the more abundant material now available.
Measurements.—External and cranial measurements of three adults, a male and female from Rancho Pano Ayuctle and a male from two kilometers west of El Carrizo, respectively, are as follows: 577, 580, 568; 294, 288, 290; 46, 43, 43; 40, 42, 37; condylobasal length, ——, 70.1, 69.9; palatal length, 43.2, 42.3, 41.9; lambdoidal breadth, 23.6, 22.0, 22.7; alveolar length of maxillary tooth-row, 29.5, 28.4, 29.0.
Records of occurrence.—Specimens examined, 15: 7 km. SW La Purisima, 1; Rancho Pano Ayuctle, 6 mi. N Gómez Farías, 300 ft., 1; Rancho Pano Ayuctle, 25 mi. N Mante and 3 km. W Pan-American Highway, 300 ft., 7; 10 km. N, 8 km. W El Encino, 400 ft., 3; 2 km. W El Carrizo, 2500 ft., 3 (one specimen deposited in Instituto de Biología, México).
1897. Marmosa murina mexicana Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 11:44, March 16, type from Juquila, 1500 m., Oaxaca.
1902. Marmosa mexicana, Bangs, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 39:19, April.
Distribution in Tamaulipas.—Known only from Aserradero del Infernillo (Goodwin, 1954:3) in southwestern part of state.
Marmosa has been reported from Tamaulipas only by Goodwin (1954:3), who examined "15 rami, and one fragment of maxillary" that were found in a cave. Possibly they were remains from owl pellets.
1892. Sorex saussurei Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 7:173, September 29, type from N slope Sierra Nevada de Colima, approximately 8000 ft., Jalisco.
Distribution in Tamaulipas.—Known only from Miquihuana.
Jackson (1928:156) reported four specimens from Miquihuana, which he incorrectly located in Nuevo León.
1858. Blarina berlandieri Baird, Mammals, in Repts. Expl. Surv. ..., 8(1):53, July 14, type from Matamoros, Tamaulipas.
1941. Cryptotis parva berlandieri, Davis, Jour. Mamm., 22:413, November 13.
Distribution in Tamaulipas.—Throughout state.
A female taken on July 5, one mile south of Altamira, carried three embryos 5 mm. in crown-rump length. A female from the same locality and another taken on June 6 in the Sierra de Tamaulipas were lactating. Weight of each of six males was 5.0 grams.
Records of occurrence.—Specimens examined, 9: Sierra de Tamaulipas, 10 mi. W, 2 mi. S Piedra, 1200 ft., 1; 1 mi. S Altamira, 8.
Additional records: Matamoros (Baird, 1858:53); 9 km. N Rancho Tigre (Goodwin, 1954:3).
1933. Cryptotis pergracilis pueblensis Jackson, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 46:79, April 27, type from Huachinango, 5000 ft., Puebla.
Distribution in Tamaulipas.—Known only from Aserradero del Paraiso.
The only report from Tamaulipas of this small shrew is that of Goodwin (1954:3) who listed a cranium and mandible, possibly of the same individual, found on the floor of a cave. Goodwin referred the remains to pueblensis because of the "noticeably broader and heavier rostrum than in ... C. parva berlandieri from Rancho Tigre."
1954. Cryptotis mexicana madrea Goodwin, Amer. Mus. Novit., 1670:1, June 28, type from Rancho del Cielo, 5 mi. NW Gómez Farías, 3500 ft., Tamaulipas.
Distribution in Tamaulipas.—Known only from the type locality and vicinity thereof.
This subspecies is known only from two complete specimens, six crania and four rami collected in two different localities—the type locality and Aserradero del Infernillo, only seven kilometers from the type locality. All the specimens were examined and reported by Goodwin (1954:1; 1954:4). The type specimen "was taken in a low section of an overgrown ditch" and the other complete specimen was trapped in a stone wall that separated an orchard from a pasture. The six skulls were found in owl pellets.
1877. Sorex (Notiosorex) crawfordi Coues, Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Surv. Territories, 3:651, May 15, type from near old Fort Bliss, approximately 2 mi. above El Paso, El Paso Co., Texas.
1895. Notiosorex crawfordi, Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 10:32, Dec. 31.
Distribution in Tamaulipas.—Known only from two localities in southwestern part of state.
The two specimens examined were collected in July, one in tropical forest and the other in pine-oak forest; each was a lactating female and each weighed 5 grams.
Judging from Merriam's (1895:32) description, the two females differ from the type and three specimens from San Diego, Texas, in having a unicolored tail and in being slightly larger externally. When more abundant material is available the Notiosorex crawfordi of northeastern México probably will be found to represent a new subspecies; for the present I follow Findley (1955:616) in referring Tamaulipan specimens to N. crawfordi.
Measurements.—External measurements of the specimens from Jaumave and Palmillas, respectively: 90, 90; 28, 31; 11, 11.5; 8, 8. For cranial measurements see Findley (1955:32).
Records of occurrence.—Specimens examined, 2: Jaumave, 2400 ft., 1; Palmillas, 4400 ft., 1.
1914. Scalopus inflatus Jackson, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 27:21, February 2, type from Tamaulipas, 45 miles from Brownsville, Texas.