The Subgeneric Status and Distribution in Time of Citellus rexroadensis

Abstract

The type and paratypes of Citellus rexroadensis were collected at Locality 3, Rexroad fauna, Meade County, Kansas. This material, as well as material subsequently collected at this and three other localities, was examined and measured. On the basis of the form and relative size of the cheek teeth, C. rexroadensis is placed in the subgenus Otospermophilus . Isolated cheek teeth from the Fox Canyon Ranch average smaller than teeth from the type locality, although there is a broad overlap in individual measurements. This is interpreted as chronological variation over a short span of geological time. Specimens from the Buis Ranch, Beaver County, Oklahoma, of late Middle Pliocene age, indicate that C. rexroadensis had a relatively long geological distribution.