A Provisional Check-List and Key to the Mammals of Arkansas (with Annotations)

Abstract

Published reports dealing witlh the mammals of Arkansas are few in number and give only a rather limited coverage of the state as a whole. Only two check-lists of Arkansas mammals have appeared previously. That of Black (1936) covers the northwestern portion of the State while one by Dellinger and Black (1940) is concerned mainly with the Ozark Plateau region of northwestern Arkansas and covers other parts of the State very incompletely. Because the previous lists lack completeness and since changes in nomenclature have to some extent made them obsolete, it has seemed desirable to present a new and revised check-list for the State as a whole. This list is based on the original records along with a large number of new records gathered by the author and his students during the last five years. Since publication of the earlier check-lists a great many more specimen,; have been added to the University of Arkansas Zoology Department Collection. Many of these specimens are from areas of the State from which previous collections have not been made. The author has learned of a considerable number of mammal specimens from Arkansas in other collections outside the State through correspondence with individuals and institutions. These specimens are included in the general scope of this paper. Valuable records have been contributed by game wardens and other conservation officials in the State, and records from the literature have been utilized as fully as possible. All of the records now available give a much more accurate distributional picture of the different species found within the State than was previously possible. A general key to Arkansas mammals is included for the use of high school and college students, game wardens and technical personneL concerned with conservation activities in the State, and other interested persons. The key is based primarily upon study skins and fresh specimens and is intended for both field and laboratory use. Where necessary,, tooth and skull characters have been used to make separations in the key and to aid in identifications. Subspecific names in the check-list are largely inferences and are not based on large series of specimens, and too much importance should not be attached to them. It is the author's hope that additional records of some of the less well-known species found within the political confines of Arkansas may result from use of the key by various individuals in the State. The present list includes several new species and subspecies not mentioned in previous reports. Some have been recorded recently while others were