DISTINGUISHING ZAPUS HUDSONIUS PREBLEI FROM ZAPUS PRINCEPS PRINCEPS BY USING REPEATED CRANIAL MEASUREMENTS

Preble's meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius preblei), a federally listed threatened subspecies, and the western jumping mouse (Zapus princeps princeps) typically occur parapatrically but in some areas may be syntopic. Field differentiation between the taxa is difficult so we investigated the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of mammalogy 2003-11, Vol.84 (4), p.1456-1463
Main Authors: Conner, Mary M., Shenk, Tanya M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Biological and medical sciences
Classification
Datasets
discriminant function analysis
Discriminants
Error rates
FEATURE ARTICLES
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Mammalia
Mammalogy
meadow jumping mouse
Meadows
Measurement
measurement error
morphometrics
Natural history
Palatal consonants
repeated measures
Rodents
Skull
Specimens
Taxa
Teeth
Vertebrates: general zoology, morphology, phylogeny, systematics, cytogenetics, geographical distribution
Zapus hudsonius preblei
Zapus princeps
Zapus princeps princeps
Zoology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Preble's meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius preblei), a federally listed threatened subspecies, and the western jumping mouse (Zapus princeps princeps) typically occur parapatrically but in some areas may be syntopic. Field differentiation between the taxa is difficult so we investigated the use of cranial characteristics as a basis for identification. We developed a discriminant function conducted on the means of repeated measurements to distinguish between the taxa from an initial sample of 105 specimens (n = 71 Z. p. princeps and n = 34 Z. h. preblei). We found that measurement error can contribute significantly to erroneous reclassification of specimens when only a single measurement set is used. Use of only presence or absence of the anterior median toothfold of M3 is not a reliable method for distinguishing between the subspecies. We used the discriminant function to identify 8 of 16 specimens collected in southeastern Wyoming as Z. h. preblei.
ISSN:0022-2372
1545-1542
DOI:10.1644/BEM-020