HERPETOLOGY OF ZUNI MOUNTAINS — GEHLBACH 



249 



(1941, table 1) and Lindsey (1951, table 1) have presented other 

 temperature data for the Zuni region. 



Table 1. — Temperature and humidity in the pinyon-juniper-ponderosa pine 

 ecotone, 7200 feet, Cottonwood Gulch, McKinley County, New Mexico 



Ecological Distribution 



Included m the Navahonian biotic province of Dice (1943), the 

 Zuni region contains Plains, Roughlands, and Montane Life Belts. 

 While these biogeographic units vary with ecologic succession and 

 exposure, they may be employed to describe elevational distribution 

 of amphibians and reptiles. Within each Hfe belt, the characteriza- 

 tion of vegetational associations and substrate conditions will further 

 delimit herpetofaunal range. No attempt at complete vegetational 

 analysis is made here; only the relative positions of certain aspect 

 dominants, important in providing cover, are described. The Hfe 

 belts and associations are both vertically and horizontally discon- 

 tinuous, becoming increasingly mesophytic mth ascending elevation. 



Plains Life Belt 



This lowermost unit extends in patchwork fashion from 5794 feet at 

 the eastern end of the study area to approximately 7200 feet on the 

 lava beds near El Alorro. Shrub cover is relatively sparse except 

 in the vicinity of arroyos and around rock outcrops and mesas. The 

 soil may consist of loose sand or clay with Uttle rock or restricted 

 areas of gravel and rubble. At the edges of the Zuni and San Mateo 

 Mountains this Hfe belt is broken by mesas included in the Rough- 

 lands Life Belt and by malpais. Part of Bailey's (1913, pp. 25-41) 

 Upper Sonoran Zone, the mixed grasslands of Castetter (1956), the 

 basin sagebrush and short-grass plains of Clements (1920, pp. 139- 

 144, 156, 160); and Pearson's (1931) grassland zone are included in 

 the Plams Life Belt. 



