Tacoma pocket gopher
| Tacoma pocket gopher | |
|---|---|
 | |
| An image of a separate subspecies of the Mazama pocket gopher | |
Extinct (1970) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Placentalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Geomyidae |
| Genus: | Thomomys |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: | †T. m. tacomensis |
| Trinomial name | |
| †Thomomys mazama tacomensis Taylor, 1919 | |
The Tacoma pocket gopher (Thomomys mazama tacomensis) was a subspecies of the Mazama pocket gopher that was restricted to a few isolated populations in the southern Puget Sound area and on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. The first specimen was collected in 1853 by Suckley and Cooper at Fort Steilacoom, but it was only officially described in 1919 by Taylor.[1][2] Its range is believed to have covered an area from Point Defiance in Tacoma, south to Steilacoom, and east to Puyallup.[1] The subspecies is considered to have become extinct by 1970, with the cause being thought to be primarily residential development and destruction of the prairie habitat it relied on; the last recorded specimens may have been killed by cats.[1][3][4][5] Another subspecies from Washington, T. m. louiei, has been presumed extinct; however, this is less certain.[1]
Description
[edit]It has a darker color than the other pocket gophers in the Western Washington lowlands, closely resembling T. m. yelmensis but having a darker winter coat and face, more extensive black area behind the ears, and narrow nose towards the front.[2] It is also similar to T. m. melanops, but has a larger interparietal.[2] Its winter coat is a brown-orange color, speckled with black.[2][6] Its face is a blackish color, extending to a 1-centimeter square area behind the ears.[2] The nose tends to have white spots with white or gray whiskers.[2] The underside is a light tan color, lacking the scattered white patches seen in some T. m. yelmensis.[2] Its skull is roughly equivalent to that of T. m. yelmensis, but tends to have narrower nasal bones towards the front, smaller nasal openings, a slimmer rostrum, more rounded cranium, and shorter and narrower interparietal bones.[2]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 "Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Removing Five Subspecies of Mazama Pocket Gopher From the Candidate List for Endangered and Threatened Species". Federal Register. August 21, 2013.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Taylor, Walter P. (September 30, 1919). "A new pocket gopher from Western Washington". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 32: 169–172 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ↑ "Living with wildlife: Pocket Gophers". Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Retrieved May 16, 2026.
- ↑ Nelson, Suzanne L.; Carlson, Michael C. T. (March 26, 2024). "Patterns of Prairie Soil Preference and Occupancy for the Threatened Mazama Pocket Gopher in Washington". Northwest Science. 97 (1–2): 15–25. doi:10.3955/046.097.0103 – via BioOne.
- ↑ Stinson, Derek; Wiles, Gary; Hayes, Gerald; Lewis, Jeff; Hallock, Lisa; Desimone, Steve; Buchanan, Joe (March 14, 2013) [August 1, 2013]. "Mazama Pocket Gopher (Thomomys Mazama)". Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. University of Washington Puget Sound Institute – via Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
- ↑ Verts, B. J.; Carraway, Leslie N. (May 12, 2000). "Thomomys mazama" (PDF). American Society of Mammalogists (641): 1–7 – via Clark Science Center.
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