Cotton Mice, Peromyscus gossypinus LeConte 



(Rodentia: Cricetidae), in the Great Dismal Swamp 



and Surrounding Areas 



James L. Boone 1 



Museum of Natural History, Institute of Ecology, and 



Savannah River Ecology Laboratory 



University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602 



AND 



Joshua Laerm 



Museum of Natural History, University of Georgia, 



Athens Georgia 30602 



ABSTRACT — Livetrapping of small mammals was conducted in the 

 Great Dismal Swamp and other areas of North Carolina in 1990. 

 Five Peromyscus gossypinus were caught in the Dismal Swamp pro- 

 per, and 42 were caught in the Chowan Swamp adjacent to the 

 Dismal Swamp. These are the first published records of P. gossypinus 

 taken in the Dismal Swamp region since the 1930s. 



Rose et al. (1990) suggested that the cotton mouse, Peromyscus 

 gossypinus LeConte, could be extinct in the Great Dismal Swamp of 

 Virginia and North Carolina. With the exception of two specimens 

 collected in 1933 by Dice (1940), virtually none has been captured 

 there since the turn of the century despite the efforts of Handley 

 (1979) in the 1950s and Rose et al. (1990) in the 1980s. Our recent 

 collections and genetic analyses show P. gossypinus exists in the Dismal 

 Swamp, and that based on capture rate it is uncommon in the Swamp 

 proper, but is relatively abundant in areas adjacent to the southern 

 section of the Swamp. 



Separating P. gossypinus from P. leucopus Rafinesque (white- 

 footed mouse) can be difficult both for live and museum specimens. 

 Dice (1940) states that in eastern Virginia size characteristics but not 

 color can be used to separate these species. Our studies (unpublished 

 data) show that several cranial and external characters from adult 

 specimens are required for consistent species identification with 

 discriminant analysis. However, a fixed allozyme difference at the 

 Glucose-6-Phosphate Isomerase locus (GPI or PGI, Enzyme Commis- 

 sion No. 5.3.1.9), and nearly fixed differences at the Albumin and 

 alpha-Glycerolphosphate dehydrogenase (a-GPD or GPD), Enzyme 

 Commission No. 1.1.1.8) loci separate these two species (Price and 

 Kennedy 1980; Robbins et al. 1985; Boone 1990; Boone unpublished 

 data). 



'Direct correspondence to James Boone at the Museum of Natural History. 

 Brimleyana 18:125-129, June 1993 125 



