64 NORTH AMLRICAN FAUNA 6 0, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



PROCYON LOTOR HERNANDEZII Wagler 



Mexican Plateau Raccoon 



Pr[or!/on] hernandezii Wagler, Isis 24: 514, 1831. 



Proci/on lotor hernandezii Allen, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. Bull. 3: 176, Doc. 10, 1890. 



Type locality. — Valley of Mexico, Mexico (specimens from Tlalpam 

 regarded as typical). ^^ 



Type. — Not designated. 



Disifribnfion. — Southern part of tableland or plateau region of 

 Mexico and adjoining coasts, from Nayarit, Jalisco, and San Luis 

 Potosi, south to near the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Altitudinal range 

 from sea level to about 8,000 feet. Tropical to Transition Zone. 



General characters. — A large, dark grayish subspecies; skull some- 

 what flattened, with narrow frontal region and slender, wide spreading 

 zygomata; dentition heavy. Similar in general to P. I. fuscipes of 

 Texas, but upper parts grayer; skull flatter and dift'ering in detail. 

 Decidedly darker than P. I. mexicanus of Chihuahua, the upper parts 

 more extensively overlaid with black, and cranial characters distinc- 

 tive. Dift'ering from P. I. shujeldti of Campechc in longer pelage; top 

 of head darker and back more heavily overlaid with black ; skull more 

 slender. 



Color. — Very similar to that of P. I. fuscipes but still grayer, less 

 buflfy beneath overlying black; black postauricular spots smaller. 

 Young (in first pelage) : Similar to lotor of corresponding age, but top 

 of head and postauricular areas less extensively brownish black, and 

 black mask continuous across face (mask more or less interrupted 

 between eyes in lotor) ; feet dark brownish instead of buffy. 



Cranial characters. — Skull size about as in P. I. fuscipes but more 

 flattened above, the frontal region less elevated, and brain case less 

 depressed near fronto-parietal sutiu'e; postorbital proc(>sses of frontals 

 usually longer, narrower, more acutely pointed; upper margin of orbit 

 usually more deeply concave; posterior upper premolar and upper 

 carnassial usually larger. Similar to that of P. I. mexicanvs, but 

 flatter, the frontal region less elevated; interorbital and postorbital 

 regions usually narrower; maxillary tooth rows longei-; posterior 

 upper premolar and upper carnassial larger. Compared with that 

 of P. I. sJiiifdilti the skull is more slender, less massive; interorbital 

 and postorbital regions narrower; dentition about the same. 



Measurements. — Adult male from Tlalpam, Valley of Mexico, Mexico: Total 

 length, 905 mm.; tail vertebrae, 283; hind foot, 122. Two adult males from 

 Jalpan, Queretaro, and Patzcuaro, Michoacan, respectively: 894, 872; 340, 308; 

 129, 127. Two adult females, Tetela del Volcan, Morelos, and El Chico, Hidalgo: 

 860,825; 300, 264; 120, 122. Skull: Adult male from Tlalpam, Mexico: Greatest 



'* Type locality fixed by Nelson and Goldman, Biol. Soc. Wa.sliington I'loc. 44: IT, Feb. 21, 1931. 



