112 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 69 



MACROGEOMYS CAVATOR Bangs 



Chiriqui Pocket Gopher 



Macrogeomys cavator Bangs, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., Vol. 39, No. 2, p. 42, 

 text figs. 24-25, April, 1902. Type from Boquete, Chiriqui, Panama 

 (altitude 4,800 feet). 



The Qiiriqui pocket gopher is based on a series of 26 specimens 

 collected by W. W. Brown, Jr., at from 4,000 to 7,000 feet altitude 

 in the vicinity of Boquete on the southern slope of the Volcan de 

 Chiriqui. 



The following is from the original description : 



" Differs from the four known Costa Rican species, though nearest 

 M. dolichocephalus Merriam. Compared with the type of that 

 species, the skull is shorter and wider across zygoma ; nasals, longer ; 

 distance from postorbital process to back of zygomatic arch, shorter ; 

 audital bullae, flatter; sagittal and lambdoidal crests, heavier; zygo- 

 matic arch heavier and more angulated, standing widely and squarely 

 out from skull. Color, very dark and nearly uniform — not pied as in 

 the other species. Pelage, short, close and rather harsh. 



" Upper parts dark seal-brown — almost black ; under parts similar 

 but slightly grizzled, the pelage sparse, so that the skin shows 

 through ; a small white anal patch, and sometimes small white patches 

 under chin and on under side of wrists ; whiskers colorless ; feet, 

 hands and tail, naked — in dried skin yellowish brown to dusky, the 

 end of the tail black. In many specimens there are longer hairs 

 scattered through the pelage, some of which are silvery, others 

 brown like the general color of the back. 



" This very distinct new species V^^as abundant on the slopes of 

 the volcano from 4,000 to 7,000 feet, but was not seen below 4,000 

 feet. It hardly needs comparison with any of the four previously 

 known species from Costa Rica." 



M. cavator seems to be somewhat larger and richer colored than 

 M. pansa of the neighboring lowlands, but the two are evidently very 

 closely allied and probably intergrade. The skulls of both differ 

 notably from those of their known Costa Rican congeners in the 

 high sinuous lambdoid crest, and in the greater anterior develop- 

 ment of the basioccipital. M. cavator is similar in general size to 

 the more recently described species, M. dariensis of eastern Panama, 

 but the tail is shorter, the pelage longer and rich seal brown, instead 

 of dull brown or black in color; the skull is less elongated, much 

 broader posteriorly, and differs in many important details. 



