Corrections of Records of Occurrence 



of Peromyscus polionotus (Wagner) and P. gossypinus 



(LeConte) (Rodentia: Muridae) in the Blue Ridge 



Province of Georgia 



Joshua Laerm and James L. Boone 



Museum of Natural History and Institute of Ecology 



University of Georgia, Athens 30602 



ABSTRACT — Reexamination of marginal records of Peromyscus 

 polionotus and P. gossypinus previously reported from the Blue 

 Ridge Province of Georgia indicate specimens were misidentified. 

 Neither species occurs in the Blue Ridge Province. The distribution 

 of P. polionotus is restricted to south of a line from Greenville 

 and Spartanburg counties, South Carolina, southeast to Clarke, 

 County, Georgia and west to Dawson and Cherokee counties, 

 Georgia. The distributional limit of P. gossypinus is south of 

 a line from Lincoln and Wilkes counties, Georgia west to Dekalb 

 and Fulton counties and then west and north to Polk, Floyd, 

 and Dade counties. 



Mice of the genus Peromyscus Gloger are among the most 

 common and broadly studied small mammals in North America. Yet 

 they are often difficult to distinguish on the basis of traditional 

 morphological features, and consequently limits to their distribution 

 are difficult to delineate. This is particularly true within Osgood's 

 (1909) P. leucopus and P. maniculatus species groups (Hooper 1968, 

 Laerm and Boone 1994). Frequently biologists depend upon range 

 maps to rule out certain species; nevertheless, the correct identifica- 

 tion of a taxon should be based upon morphological characteristics. 



Numerous regional studies have been undertaken to provide 

 mensural discrimination between species of Peromyscus (Choate 1973, 

 Linzey et al. 1976, Choate et al. 1979, Stromberg 1979, Engstrom et 

 al. 1982, Feldhamer et al. 1983, McDaniel et al. 1983). Laerm and 

 Boone (1994) recently used discriminant analysis to maximally 

 distinguish between the four Peromyscus species that occur in the 

 southeastern United States: P. gossypinus, leucopus, maniculatus, and 

 polionotus. Based upon reexamination and correct identification of 

 specimens representing marginal records of P. gossypinus and P. 

 polionotus with this discriminant analysis model, we questioned the 

 accuracy of existing range maps and marginal records for P. 

 polionotus (Wagner) and P. gossypinus (LeConte). 



Brimleyana 22:9-14, June 1995 



