GRINNELL — ^NEW KANGAROO RAT 
179 
Dipodomys merriami brevinasus new subspecies 
SHORT-NOSED KANGAROO RAT 
Type, — Male adult, skin and skull; no. 28634, Mus. Vert. Zook; Hayes Station, 
near B. M. 503, 19 miles southwest of Mendota, Fresno County, California; 
June 30, 1918; collected by Richard Hunt; orig. no. 568. 
Comparative diagnosis. — A broad-faced, four-toed, small-sized kangaroo rat 
belonging to the merriami group. In coloration nearest like Dipodomys merriami 
merriami Mearns; color tone of dorsum similar, but dark facial and tail markings 
averaging blacker. Coloration similar to that in nitratoides but paler in tone, 
more ochraceous. With respect to skull nearest like nitratoides, in that rostrum 
at base and premaxillary tongues are conspicuously narrower than in merriami, 
but mastoid bullae larger and mastoid width decidedly greater, with interparietal 
and supraoccipital narrower. The rostrum in brevinasus is relatively shorter 
than in any other race of merriami. General size very slightly larger than in 
nitratoides, much larger than in exilis. , 
Measurements (in millimeters). — Of type: Total length, 252; tail vertebrae, 
145; hind foot, 36; ear from crown, 11; greatest length of skull, 35.0; breadth of 
skull across bullae, 23.2; spread of maxillary arches, 19.5; greatest length of 
nasals, 12.4; greatest width of rostrum near end, 3.1; width of rostrum close to 
base, 5.2; width of maxillary arch at middle, 4.7. Weight, in grams, 43.9. 
Distribution. — Inhabits the atriplex association along the western side of the 
San Joaquin Valley, California, from western Fresno County south to near mouth 
of San Emigdio Creek, in southwestern Kern County. Life zone. Lower Sonoran. 
