Abstract
Peromyscus boylii (Baird, 1855), the brush deermouse, is a common cricetid rodent in the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is a member of the Peromyscus boylii species group and has had a complicated taxonomic history because many former subspecies have been elevated to species. It is a medium-sized Peromyscus with small ears and a long, slightly bicolored and slightly haired tail that ends in a tuft of long hairs. It prefers brushy habitat, showing an affinity for oak-scrub oak and canyon-creek bottoms. It is not of special conservation concern. DOI: 10.1644/838.1.
Highlights
Many of the taxa listed as subspecies by Osgood (1909) and Hall (1981) have been elevated to species in the boylii species group, including P. levipes (Schmidly et al 1988), P. madrensis (Carleton 1977; Carleton et al 1982), P. simulus (Carleton 1977; Roberts et al 2001), and P. beatae (Schmidly et al 1988); or to other species outside of the P. boylii species group, including P. attwateri, in the P. truei species group (Schmidly 1973); P. aztecus (Alvarez 1961; Carleton 1979; Hooper 1968) and P. spicilegus (Carleton 1977; Roberts et al 1998), both in the P. aztecus species group; and P. sagax, currently in no species group (Bradley et al 1996; Tiemann-Boege et al 2000)
Because many of the subspecies listed by Osgood (1909) and Hall (1981) have been elevated to species, some published information about P. boylii now is more appropriately attributed to other species (e.g., Anderson 1972; Baker and Phillips 1965; Brown 1963a, 1963b, 1964a, 1964b; Brown and Conaway 1964; Garner 1967; Hooper 1957, 1958; Linzey and Layne 1969; Long 1961; Rogers and Engstrom 1992; Whitaker 1968)
P. boylii differs from P. beatae and P. levipes in that P. boylii has a larger glans penis with slight fluting on its dorsal and ventral surfaces and triangular spines that are of equal height and width, and a longer baculum that is dorsoventrally curved with a shaft that is narrow relative to length (Bradley and Schmidly 1987)
Summary
Half the length of the hind foot) with slight fluting on its dorsal and ventral surfaces and triangular spines that are of equal height and width, and a longer baculum that is dorsoventrally curved with a shaft that is narrow relative to length (Bradley and Schmidly 1987) These 3 species differ karyologically, as well: P. boylii has a monomorphic low. In west-central Mexico, P. boylii differs from P. spicilegus by having smaller body and cranial morphological dimensions, paler color, and no supraorbital shelf (Baker and Greer 1962; Carleton 1977; Carleton et al 1982). P. boylii is difficult to distinguish from P. schmidlyi but is slightly smaller in body size and has lighter coloration (Bradley et al 2004)
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