8, 1864; Gray, Proc. Zoöl. Soc. London, 1865:115, 1865.
_Putorius (Gale) brasiliensis_ var. _aequatorialis_ Coues,
Fur-bearing animals, p. 142, 1877, part? ("merely as a substitute
for Gray's [supposedly] preoccupied name," that is,
_aureoventris_).
_Mustela affinis costaricensis_, Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat.
Hist., 35:101, April 28, 1916 (part).
_Mustela macrura_, Lönnberg, Arkiv för Zool., 14 (no. 4):11, 1921
(part ?).
_Mustela frenata aureoventris_, Hall, Carnegie Instit. Washington
Publ. 473:110, November 20, 1936; Hall, Physis, 16:175, 1939.
_Type._--Probably female, juvenile, skull with skin, no. 64.6.6.3
(formerly 1432a), British Mus. Nat. Hist.; probably Subtropical
Life-zone of western Ecuador (locality given as Quito, probably
because received from that place).
The skin, once exhibited as a mount, has lost some hair from the
back and other parts of the body and is not suitable for remaking
into a conventional study specimen. The skull lacks the occiput,
basioccipital, premaxillae, upper incisors, two of the lower
incisors, all of the canines, premolars 2/2 on both sides, right
P3, left p3, and has the left jugal mesially defective. The
premolars present are not all fully emerged.
_Range._--Pacific coastal regions of Ecuador and Colombia;
Subtropical and Tropical life-zones. See figure 29 on page 221.
_Characters for ready recognition._--Differs from _Mustela
africana stolzmanni_ by absence of median, longitudinal, abdominal
stripe of same color as upper parts, by presence of p2 and by two
rather than one root on P2; from _Mustela frenata macrura_ by
Reddish Black, tone 4, plate 344 rather than Chocolate, tone 3,
pl. 343 (of Oberthür and Dauthenay), or slightly darker color of
upper parts; from _M. f. affinis_ and _M. f. meridana_ by darker
color (tone 4 rather than tone 2, Reddish Black of Ober. and
Dauth.) of upper parts and larger size of teeth (M1 with length
more than 2.4 and breadth more than 4.7; P4 with outside length
more than 5.9; length of m1 more than 6.2).
_Description._--Unless otherwise stated, information concerning
this subspecies is derived from the one referred specimen
available, a young male, no. 34677, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.
_Size._--Male: Total length, 470; length of tail, 160; length of
hind foot, 50. Tail 51 per cent as long as head and body.
Female: Not known.
_Externals._--Longest facial vibrissae black and reaching beyond
ear. Carpal vibrissae reaching to or beyond apical pad of fifth
digit; hairiness of foot soles slightly less than shown in figure
20.
_Color._--Sides and top of head and neck posteriorly to shoulders
black; white facial markings represented by only five white hairs
anterior to right ear, one anterior to left ear and three far back
on forehead; dark areas at angles of mouth confluent with color of
upper parts; tip of tail black; remainder of upper parts near
(_n_) Bay or Reddish Black, tone 4 of Oberthür and Dauthenay, pl.
344; chin whitish; remainder of underparts Warm Buff, deep orange
in juvenile, type specimen, according to Gray (1864, pl. 8); color
of underparts extending distally on posterior sides of forelegs to
wrists but not reaching foot soles and on hind legs to or slightly
below knees. Least width of color of underparts equal to 15 per
cent of greatest width of color of upper parts. Black tip of tail
equal to 27 per cent of length of tail-vertebrae.
In color, no. 34677 is, to me as it was to Allen (1916:101),
indistinguishable from the darkest specimens (nos. 178970 and
10112) of _M. f. panamensis_. Therefore, _M. f. aureoventris_ is
one of the two darkest subspecies of weasels.
_Skull and teeth._--Male: See measurements and plates 27-29;
weight, 4.3 grams; basilar length, 45.8; zygomatic breadth
approximately equal to distance between condylar foramen and M1
and to distance between anterior palatine foramen and anterior
margin of tympanic bulla; mastoid breadth less than postpalatal
length; postorbital breadth more than length of upper premolars
and greater than width of basioccipital measured from medial
margin of one foramen lacerum posterior to its opposite;
interorbital breadth greater than distance between foramen opticum
and anterior margin of tympanic bulla; breadth of rostrum less (at
least in young specimen) than length of tympanic bulla; least
width of palate seldom if ever greater than length of P4; anterior
margin of tympanic bulla as far posterior to foramen ovale as
width of three (including I3) upper incisors; height of tympanic
bulla not greater than distance from its anterior margin to
foramen ovale; length of tympanic bulla more than length of lower
molar and premolar tooth-row and shorter than orbitonasal length;
anterior margin of masseteric fossa below anterior half of m2.
Skulls of males of _M. f. aureoventris_, and _Mustela frenata
macrura_ from the vicinity of Quito so closely resemble one
another as not to be distinguished with the material now
available, although the teeth of _aureoventris_ are larger.
Comparisons of the skulls of males with those of _M. f. meridana_
and _affinis_, which are readily distinguishable from those of
_aureoventris_, have been made in the accounts of those
subspecies.
Female: Skull of adult unknown.
_Remarks._--This subspecies of the Tropical Life-zone, or at least the
Subtropical Life-zone, of Ecuador, in certain cranial characters
resembles _Mustela frenata macrura_ of the Temperate Life-zone. The two
differ markedly in color. Nevertheless, a large number of the specimens
collected in Ecuador are intermediate in color as well as in zonal
distribution.
The type specimen is young or a juvenile. The measurements of no. 34677
from Gualea indicate an animal similar in size to _M. f. affinis_. Gray
(1864:55) states that the type specimen measures "Length of body and
head 6 inches, of tail 4-1/2 inches." The plate (pl. 8) accompanying
Gray's original description (_loc. cit._) is marked one-half natural
size and represents the animal as having a head and body length of
eight and one-half inches. One year later Gray (1865:115) gives the
measurements of this species as "Length of body and head 12, tail 8
inches." Since he had at this time another specimen, larger than the
type specimen (which specimen later, probably, became the type of
_Mustela affinis_ Gray), the larger measurements probably were taken
from it.
Geographically, and as regards cranial characters, _Mustela frenata
aureoventris_ is most closely related to _M. f. affinis_ and to the
northern section of _M. f. macrura_, but in color to _M. f.
panamensis_. _M. f. aureoventris_ and _M. f. panamensis_ are the two
darkest-colored subspecies and each occurs in a region of extremely
heavy rainfall. There is a skin only, no. 32620, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.,
from Munchique, obtained on June 1, 1911, which is appreciably darker
than specimens of _M. f. affinis_ in corresponding pelage and is
intermediate between _M. f. affinis_ and _M. f. aureoventris_ in color
as it is geographically. The specimen measures 495, 202, 52.
The name _Mustela aureoventris_ Gray has been regarded by most authors
as preoccupied by _Mustela auriventer_ Hodgson (1841:909). However, the
writer is not of this opinion and agrees with Thomas (1920:224) that
"The name _aureoventris_ is not invalidated by the _auriventer_ of
Hodgson, as, apart from 'one-letterist' differences, its first half
comes from the adjective _aureus_, while Hodgson's name is based on the
substantive _aurum_, so that not only the spellings but the derivations
are different." The spelling of Gray's name should be _aureoventris_
for this is the spelling in the original description which in
pagination precedes the colored plate of the animal that is labeled
_Mustela aureoventris_. _Putorius brasiliensis_ var. _aequatorialis_
Coues (1877:142) is the only name known to the writer that has been
proposed as a substitute for _Mustela aureoventris_ Gray.
Thomas (1920:224) treats _Mustela macrura_ Taczanowski as a synonym of
_Mustela aureoventris_ Gray. Allen (1916:101) also treats the two names
as applying to the same kind of weasel but regards _aureoventris_ as
preoccupied and therefore uses the name _macrura_. Taczanowski's
original description (1874:311) and plate of _Mustela macrura_ indicate
an animal that is lighter colored than _M. f. affinis_. Gray's original
description (1864:55) and plate of _aureoventris_ indicate an animal
that is darker colored than _M. f. affinis_. Indeed Gray (1865:115) in
speaking of the type of _aureoventris_ as compared with an adult from
New Granada [= Colombia] that probably later became the type specimen
of _Mustela affinis_, states: "The young from Quito is much darker than
the adult;. . . ." Comparison of the plates accompanying the original
descriptions of _aureoventris_ and _macrura_ well illustrate the
difference stated in the written descriptions. My examination of the
type specimens of _M. macrura_ and _M. f. aureoventris_ shows them to
have been fairly accurately portrayed in the plates accompanying the
original descriptions. Accordingly the two names are used for the two
kinds of animals which appear, however, to be only subspecifically
distinct.
Comparison of Gray's plate (1864, pl. 8) with the available specimens
from South America indicates that the name _aureoventris_ is based on
an individual that is lighter colored than no. 34677 Amer. Mus. Nat.
Hist., from Gualea, Ecuador, but on one which resembles no. 34677 more
than it does the lighter-colored specimens from the Temperate Zone of
Ecuador and northern Perú. Because Quito, Ecuador, is in the Temperate
Life-zone and because the available specimens from this zone in Ecuador
and northern Perú are distinctly lighter colored than Gray's plate
representing the type of _aureoventris_ shows this specimen to be, it
is judged to have come from an altitude lower than that of Quito (9350
feet, according to Chapman, 1926:717); probably it came from the
Subtropical Life-zone of Ecuador. Indeed Gray (1864:55) did not say
that the specimen was collected or obtained at Quito but that it
was ". . . received from Quito. . . ." Chapman (1926:717) has pointed
out that Quito, since 1846 has been the distributing point for bird
skins which specimens ". . . come from the vicinity of the city, from
the 'Napo' region on the Amazonian slopes of the Andes, and from
Nanegal, Gualea, and other localities on the Pacific side rarely below
the Subtropical Zone." It is also pointed out that only some of the
specimens are labeled with their approximate place of capture and that
even then these localities cannot be accepted as definite; they
indicate mainly whether the specimen is from the eastern or western
side of the Andes.
The above mentioned considerations and information gained by study of
the specimens cause me to think that the type is an intergrade tending
toward the lighter-colored _Mustela f. macrura_ of the Temperate Zone
although sufficiently dark to be referred to the dark subspecies
represented by no. 34677 Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., from Gualea, Ecuador.
The skull of no. 34677 shows no infestation of the frontal sinuses by
parasites.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 3, as follows:
=Ecuador=: Gualea, 1, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.
=Colombia=: 8325 ft., Munchique, 1, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. In the
British Museum of Natural History, the type, (1).
=Mustela frenata helleri= Hall
Long-tailed Weasel
Plates 27, 28 and 29
_Mustela frenata helleri_ Hall, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington,
48:143, August 22, 1935; Hall, Carnegie Instit. Washington Publ.
473:110, November 20, 1936; Hall, Physis, 16:175, 1939.
_Type._--Male, adult, skull and skin; no. 24133, Field Mus. Nat.
Hist.; 3000 feet, Hacienda San Antonio, Río Chinchao, Perú; August
22, 1922. Obtained by Edmund Heller. Original no. 6589.
The skull (plates 27-29) is complete and unbroken. The teeth all
are present, entire and but slightly worn. The skin is well made,
unfaded, and in good condition.
_Range._--Three thousand feet (type locality) to 6700 feet (Ambo),
Tropical and Subtropical life-zones of eastern Perú. See figure 29
on page 221.
_Characters for ready recognition._--Differs from _Mustela
africana stolzmanni_ by absence of median, longitudinal, abdominal
stripe of same color as upper parts, presence of p2 and two roots
rather than one root on P2; from _Mustela frenata macrura_ by
darker color (Carbon Brown, tone 3, pl. 342 rather than Chocolate,
tone 3, pl. 343, Oberthür and Dauthenay) of upper parts.
_Description._--_Size._--Male: Measurements of the type specimen
and topotype, no. 24132, are, respectively, as follows: Total
length, 382, 418; length of tail, 152, 164; length of hind foot,
52, 48. Tail 66 and 65 per cent as long as head and body. Hind
foot more than basal length.
Female: Measurements of two referred females, no. 24134 from Ambo
and no. 24136 from Huanuco, are, respectively, as follows: Total
length, 328 and 303; length of tail, 118 and 103; length of hind
foot, 39 and 38.5. Tail 56 and 51 per cent as long as head and
body. Hind foot shorter than basal length.
The average differences in external measurements of the two sexes
are: Total length, 85; length of tail, 49; length of hind foot,
11.
_Externals._--Longest facial vibrissae black and extending beyond
ear; carpal vibrissae same color as upper parts and extending to
apical pad of fifth digit; hairiness of foot-soles as shown in
figure 20.
_Color._--Rarely a few white hairs anterior to each ear; posterior
fifth of each upper lip white; top of head, posteriorly to
slightly behind ears, black, grading into color of upper parts of
body; dark spots at angles of mouth absent; tip of tail black;
remainder of upper parts near (_n_) Argus Brown and Carbon Brown,
tone 3 (pl. 342, Oberthür and Dauthenay); chin whitish; remainder
of underparts Warm Buff; color of underparts extends distally on
posterior sides of forelegs to wrists but not reaching foot-soles
and on hind legs to slightly below knees. Least width of color of
underparts 24 per cent of greatest width of color of upper parts
in each of two males and 19 to 30 per cent in three females. Black
tip of tail longer than hind foot and averaging 40 (39-42) per
cent of length of tail-vertebrae.
_Skull and teeth._--Male (based on type specimen and adult no.
24132): See measurements and plates 27-29. As described in
_Mustela frenata macrura_ except that: Weight, 4.5 (4.2 and 4.8);
basilar length, 44.6 (44.0-45.3); zygomatic breadth more than
distance between condylar foramen and M1 or than between anterior
palatine foramen and anterior margin of tympanic bulla; breadth of
rostrum more or less than (approximately equal to) length of
tympanic bulla; height of tympanic bulla less than distance from
its anterior margin to foramen ovale; length of tympanic bulla
less than length of rostrum; anterior margin of masseteric fossa
posterior to m2 by length of that tooth.
Female (based on nos. 24134 to 24136): See measurements. As
described in _Mustela frenata macrura_ except that: Weight, 1.7
(1.5-1.9) grams; basilar length, 36.5 (35.3-38.1); zygomatic
breadth less than distance between anterior palatine foramen and
anterior margin of tympanic bulla; least width of palate more or
less than (approximately equal to) outside length of P4; length of
tympanic bulla less than length of rostrum.
The skull of the female averages 62 per cent lighter than that of
the male.
The skull of the male is generally large and heavy as are the teeth.
Comparison with _macrura_ is made in the account of that subspecies.
From males of _affinis_ those of _helleri_ differ in: skull shorter;
breadth of rostrum and interorbital breadth actually and relatively
greater.
_Remarks._--The five specimens examined of this subspecies were taken
by Edmund Heller for the Field Museum of Natural History in 1922 and
1923. It is to honor his contributions to mammalogy that the subspecies
is named _helleri_. No. 24135 is the specimen carried as a pet for some
time by Mr. and Mrs. Heller and of which Mrs. Heller (1924:481) has
given an account.
This subspecies is insufficiently known, especially as to geographic
range; probably it occupies a considerable range in the Tropical
Life-zone along the eastern base of the Andes. The three females, two
from Ambo and one from Huanuco, come from a much higher altitude than
do the two males and the climate is said to be arid at Ambo and
Huanuco. The skulls of the females are 62 per cent lighter and
correspondingly smaller in measurements, than those of males. This
difference is more than that found in any other South American weasel
and it may be that the females are of a subspecies other than
_helleri_.
The type specimen has a broad skull with major proportions strikingly
like those of _Mustela stolzmanni_. Possibly the similar climatic
conditions under which the two live have left their impress in similar
fashion in this part of each of the two species. The teeth, tympanic
bullae, and certain other parts of the skull are, however, so
differently proportioned as to show that the skulls represent two
species. The referred male has a much longer skull than the type
specimen and the relative proportions of breadth and depth of the two
skulls differ widely. Judging from large series of weasels examined
from localities outside the range of _M. f. helleri_, the two skulls
probably represent almost the maximum of individual variation occurring
in one subspecies.
The dark color is as might be expected since _helleri_ inhabits the
humid Tropical Zone.
None of the five skulls shows signs of having had the frontal sinuses
infested by parasites.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 5, all in the Field Museum of
Natural History.
=Perú=: 3500 ft., Hacienda Buena Vista, Río Chinchao, 1; 3000 ft.,
Hacienda San Antonio, Río Chinchao, 1; Huanuco, 1; Ambo, 2.
=Mustela frenata agilis= Tschudi
Long-tailed Weasel
Plates 27, 28, 29, 39 and 40
_Mustela agilis_ Tschudi, Fauna Peruana, p. 110, 1844; Gray, Proc.
Zoöl. Soc. London, 1865:113, 1865; Taczanowski, Proc. Zoöl. Soc.
London, 1874:311, 1874; Taczanowski, Proc. Zoöl. Soc. London,
1881:648, 1881; Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 35:104; April
28, 1916; Thomas, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 58-224, 1920.
_Mustela macrura_, Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 35:103,
April 28, 1916.
_Mustela frenata agilis_, Hall, Carnegie Instit. Washington Publ.
473:110, November 20, 1936; Hall, Physis, 16:176, 1939.
_Type._--No type specimen, or type locality more restricted than
cold, barren highlands of the Cordillera [referring to Perú]
designated.
_Range._--High, barren Cordillera of Perú (see Tschudi, orig.
descr.); as here restricted, Temperate Life-zone and higher in
western Andes and intermountain valleys of Perú. See figure 29 on
page 221.
_Characters for ready recognition._--Differs from _Mustela frenata
macrura_ by lighter color (Chocolate, tone 2 rather than 3, pl.
343, Oberthür and Dauthenay) of upper parts; length of upper
tooth-rows, in females, less than 13; inside length of P4 more
than 4.6; from _M. f. aureoventris_ by smaller teeth (maximum size
just given for _agilis_); from _M. f. boliviensis_ by lighter
color, upper parts being Chocolate, tone 2, pl. 343, rather than
tone 4 or darker of Carbon Brown, pl. 342 (Oberthür and
Dauthenay).
_Description._--_Size._--Male: The stuffed skin of an adult, from
Lima, measures: Total length, 460; length of tail, 125; length of
hind foot, 45.7. A skin alone from Huarochirí has a body, as now
stuffed, 277 mm. long. The tail is missing and the bones of the
hind feet have been removed.
Female: The mounted specimen, no. 565, Mus. Polonais d'Hist. Nat.,
yields measurements, taken by me, as follows: Total length, 250;
length of tail, 75; length of hind foot, 32.5. The female, no.
21147, from Macate, measures, 300, 102, 34.
_Externals._--Longest facial vibrissae, either dark-or
light-colored and extending beyond ear; carpal vibrissae either
dark-or light-colored and extending to apical pad of fifth digit;
hairiness of foot soles as shown in figure 20.
_Color._--Tschudi's description of the color is, in substance, as
follows: Head, back and tail reddish gray; base of hair gray,
followed by broader grayish-yellow ring and then reddish-brown
tip; nose simply dark brown or upper lips edged with white;
throat, breast, belly and higher parts of inner sides of
extremities whitish gray, at times wholly gray, bases of hairs
always gray; feet darker than body, almost chestnut brown; tail
darker on tip than at base; ears externally dark brown, internally
whitish.
No. 565 possibly somewhat faded from exposure to light, has all
the upper parts near (14´ _j_) Ochraceous-Tawny or Cinnamon, and
tone 4 of Oberthür and Dauthenay, plate 323; posterior half of
each upper lip white; no other white facial markings present; dark
spot at each angle of mouth (one spot confluent with color of
upper parts); tip of tail probably black (tip missing); underparts
white, belly probably originally with slight tinge of yellow or
allied color; color of underparts extending distally on forelegs
to feet and onto upper sides of toes and on hind legs to just
above heels. Least width of color of underparts equal to about
one-fourth of greatest width of color of upper parts.
No. 21147, subadult, from Macate, has a white band confluent with
the underparts extending anterodorsally anterior to each ear and
the posterior third of each upper lip white. Top of head near
(_n_) Mars Brown, and Carbon Brown, tone 3 (pl. 342, Ober. and
Dauth.); tip of tail black; remainder of upper parts near (16"
_j_) Tawny-Olive, and Chocolate (tone 2, of pl. 343 of Ober. and
Dauth.) or Raw Umber (tone 3 of pl. 301 of Ober. and Dauth.);
anterior half of underparts, including posterior sides of forelegs
and antipalmar faces of forefeet, white; remainder of underparts
tinged with Warm Buff and extended on posterior legs almost to
ankles.
No. 8.1.10.1., male adult, from Lima, is also light colored, and
as described in no. 21147, except that left side of head has a
white spot rather than bar; posterior eighth of each upper lip
white; white frontonasal spot present, 11 x 11 mm.; antipalmar
faces of forefeet spotted with brown color of upper parts; color
of underparts extending distally on hind legs along medial side of
foot to point halfway between heel and tip of inner toe.
No. 13257 from Huarochirí in color and color pattern closely
resembles no. 21147. It differs from no. 21147 in slightly lighter
color of upper parts, entirely white underparts, less extension of
color of underparts onto forefeet, few white hairs instead of
white band in front of each ear; color of underparts more
restricted.
In each of the four specimens, the least width of the underparts,
expressed as a percentage of the upper parts, is as follows: no.
13257, 11 per cent; no. 21147, 29 per cent; no. 565, 31 per cent;
no. 8.1.10.1., nineteen per cent.
_Skull and teeth._--Male (based on no. 8.1.10.1.): See
measurements and plates 27-29. As described in _Mustela frenata
macrura_ except that: Weight 4.1 grams; basilar length, 42.5;
zygomatic breadth more than distance between anterior palatine
foramen and anterior margin of tympanic bulla; mastoid breadth
less than postpalatal length; tympanic bullae shorter than
rostrum.
Female (based on no. 21147): See measurements and plates 39 and
40. As described in _Mustela frenata macrura_ except that: Weight
(no. 21147, subadult), 1.5 grams; basilar length, 35.2; least
width of palate less than outside length of P4; tympanic bulla as
far posterior to foramen ovale as combined width of five upper
incisors; no. 565 answers to the same description but differs from
no. 21147 in greater basilar length and larger tympanic bullae
which are slightly more projected, at their anterior margins, from
the braincase.