White-throated woodrat

White-throated woodrat
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Cricetidae
Subfamily: Neotominae
Genus: Neotoma
Species:
N. albigula
Binomial name
Neotoma albigula
Hartley, 1894
Subspecies

Neotoma albigula varia

The white-throated woodrat (Neotoma albigula) is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae.[2] It is found from central Mexico north to Utah and Colorado in the United States. It is primarily a western species in the United States, extending from central Texas west to southeastern California.[3] Populations east of the Rio Grande in New Mexico and Trans-Pecos Texas, previously considered to be variants of the white-throated woodrat, have since 1988 been assigned to the white-toothed woodrat (Neotoma leucodon).[4]

The animal lives mostly in the Upper and Lower Sonoran life zones, occurring from pinyon-juniper woodland in higher country to desert habitats at lower elevations.

As with other species of woodrats, the white-throated woodrat constructs middens of a variety of materials such as sticks, cactus parts, and miscellaneous debris. An above-ground chamber within the midden contains a nest lined with grasses and kept free of feces. In non-rocky areas, the den usually is several feet in diameter and most commonly built around the base of a shrub that gives additional cover. In areas of rocky outcrops, crevices often are utilized, with sticks and other materials preventing free access to the nesting chamber.

Molecular data suggest that this species separated from other species of the Neotoma floridana group (Neotoma floridana, Neotoma micropus, Neotoma leucodon) about 155,000 years ago during the Illinoian Stage of the Pleistocene. This is consistent with the oldest known fossils from Slaton, Texas. This rodent is a common fossil in Southwestern cave faunas, with over 20 fossil localities of Pleistocene age known from New Mexico alone.

  1. ^ Álvarez-Castañeda, S.T.; Castro-Arellano, I.; Lacher, T.; Vázquez, E. & Arroyo-Cabrales, J. (2008). "Neotoma albigula". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008. Retrieved 25 July 2009. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern.
  2. ^ Musser, G. G.; Carleton, M. D. (2005). "Superfamily Muroidea". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 1053. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  3. ^ Macedo, R. H. & Mares, M. A. (1988). "Neotoma albigula" (PDF). Mammalian Species (310): 1–7. doi:10.2307/3504165. JSTOR 3504165. S2CID 254006463. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference j1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).