Kit Fox – Vulpes macrotis

Vulpes macrotisMerriam, 1888

Accepterad namn, Mammal Species of the World 2005

Reviewed by Egoscue (1979) and McGrew (1979). Revised by Waithman and Roest (1977) and Dragoo et al. (1990). Blair et al. (1968), Lechleitner (1969), Bueler (1973), and Dragoo et al. (1990) considered macrotis and velox conspecific. Packard and Bowers (1970), Rohwer and Kilgore (1973), Thornton and Creel (1975) (who found hybrids between velox and macrotis but concluded they were of reduced viability) and Mercure et al. (1993) retained both as separate species. Mercure et al. (1993) argued that the genetic differences between macrotis and velox were similar to that of Vulpes vulpes and V. lagopus and therefore argued that they should be recognized at the species level (followed here). Synonyms allocated according to Mercure et al. (1993).

• 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.