Western Harvest Mouse – Reithrodontomys megalotis

Reithrodontomys megalotisBaird, 1857

Accepted name, Mammal Species of the World 2005

Subgenus Reithrodontomys, megalotis species group. Formerly included R. zacatecae, which Hood et al. (1984) identified as a separate species. The substantial chromosomal variation reported (see Engstrom et al., 1981) cautions that yet other species are lumped under R. megalotis. Multivariate discrimination from R. montanus in Kansas demonstrated by Hoofer et al. (1999). Recent range expansions into NE Illinois (see Pigage and Pigage, 1994) and within N Texas (Yancey and Jones, 1997) reported; L. Choate (1997) discussed the clinal intergradation between the subspecies aztecus and megalotis on the Llano Estacado, Texas-New Mexico; southern range extension on Baja Peninsula reported by Rios and Alvarez-Castañeda (2002). See Webster and Jones (1982, Mammalian Species, 167).

• Wilson, D and Reeder, D. (eds.) 2005. Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. 3rd ed. -- 2142 pp. Johns Hopkins University Press.