BY
ROLLIN H. BAKER
University of Kansas Publications
Museum of Natural History
Volume 5, No. 12, pp. 207-218
December 15, 1951
University of Kansas
LAWRENCE
1951
University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History
Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, A. Byron Leonard,
Edward H. Taylor, Robert W. Wilson
Volume 5, No. 12, pp. 207-218
December 15, 1951
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
PRINTED BY
FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER
TOPEKA, KANSAS
1951
23-8338
By
ROLLIN H. BAKER
Forming the northeastern border of Mexico, Tamaulipas extendsin an elongated, north-south direction from the Temperate into theTorrid Zone and contains faunal elements from both the Nearcticand Neotropical regions. The mammals are less known than thosefrom some of the bordering states; for the most part collecting hasbeen limited to a few localities, chiefly along the Pan-AmericanHighway. Accordingly, as a step towards a long-range study ofthe mammals of Tamaulipas, the Museum of Natural History of theUniversity of Kansas acquired from William J. Schaldach, Jr., asmall, but significant, collection of mammals taken in the lastmonth of 1949 and the first four months of 1950.
Collections were made at several places in the vicinity of CiudadVictoria, including localities along the humid, eastern face of theSierra Madre Oriental. Many of these specimens were obtainednear camps made west of the village of El Carrizo. This smallcommunity is on the Pan-American highway, 70 kilometers (byhighway) south of Ciudad Victoria. The resulting collections,which are reported upon here, disclose that several tropical mammalsrange farther northward than previously reported. Funds forfinancing the field work were made available by a grant from theKansas University Endowment Association.
Did[elphys] mes-americana Oken, Lehrbuch d. Naturgesch., pt. 3, vol. 2:1152,1816. (Type from Northern Mexico.)
Didelphis mes-americana Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 16:256, August18, 1902.
Specimens examined, 2 as follows: 36 km. N and 10 km. W Ciudad Victoria,1 km. E El Barretal, on Río Purificacíon, 1; 12 km. N and 4 km. WCiudad Victoria, 1.
Metachirus fuscogriseus pallidus Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 14:215,July 3, 1901. (Type from Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico.)
Philander opossum pallidus Dalquest, Occ. Papers Mus. Zool., LouisianaState Univ., No. 23:2, July 10, 1950.
Specimens examined, 3 from 70 km. [by highway] S Ciudad Victoria and2 km. W El Carrizo.
Remarks.—These three specimens have proportionately longertails than typical P. o. pallidus from central Veracruz; total lengthand length of tail of two adult males are 575, 295, and 568, 290 respectively.
This marsupial has been previously unrecorded from Tamaulipasor from so northward a locality. The four-eyed opossum evidentlyranges n