XO. 5 MAMMALS OF PANAMA — GOLDMAN l6l 



Subgenus MUSTELA Linnaeus 



MUSTELA AFFINIS COSTARICENSIS Goldman 



Costa Rican Bridled Weasel 



Mustela costaricensis Goldman, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, Vol. 25, p. 9, 

 January 23, 1912. Type from San Jose, Costa Rica. 



The weasel of Panama may be referred to the Costa Rican sub- 

 species of Mustela afhnis, but is somewhat darker than the typical 

 form and in the smaller skull, with less elongated braincase and 

 relatively smaller, more flattened audital bullae, approaches M. f. 

 aMnis of Colombia. It seems to be distributed nearly throughout the 

 republic, and the localities for specimens show an altitudinal range 

 from sea level to over 5,000 feet. 



Specimens were taken by me in traps. At Gatun one was attracted 

 to a trap baited with the feathered body of a dead bird. Near the 

 summit of Mount Pirre, on visiting a spot where I had placed a trap 

 for small rodents under shelter of the wide spreading aerial roots 

 of a tree, I found that some animal had carried off the trap ; but 

 bristles and some viscera of Hetcromys left on the ground showed 

 that some carnivorous species had anticipated me. A steel trap was 

 set in the same place, and next morning held a weasel which bit 

 savagely at the toe of my shoe when extended to within reach. 



Under the name Mustela brasiliensis, Alston (1879, p. 78) records 

 the species as obtained in Panama by M. Boucard. Bangs (1902, 

 p. 49) referred to Putorius aMnis three specimens collected at 4,000 

 to 5,800 feet near Boquete by W. W. Brown, Jr. He found that the 

 examples agreed very well with Gray's description, but varied some- 

 what among themselves in color; a young individual had a wholly 

 black head while the two adults had small irregular (not the same on 

 both sides) white patches, behind the eye, in front of the ear, and 

 above the corner of the mouth. The chins were white in all three, 

 and the rest of the under parts varying shades of orange rufous. 

 A specimen also from Boquete, taken by J. H. Batty, was assigned 

 to P. aMnis by Allen (1904, p. 72) who noted a similar irregularity 

 of the white markings. He says " on the right side of the head are a 

 few white hairs, scattered singly over the whole side of the head 

 from eye to ear ; on the left is a very small oblong white spot just 

 behind the eye, and another somewhat larger white spot in front of 

 the lower base of the ear." 



Partial or complete obliteration of the white facial markings 

 usually present in weasels of this group is also shown in the speci- 

 mens collected by me, in one of which the face is entirely black 



