Northern Jalisco Research Articles

Notes on the Distribution of Some American Cheilanthoid Ferns

The following notes are based upon a 10-year study of the cheilanthoid ferns. My fieldwork in the southwestern United States and Mexico has been concerned particularly with collecting spore-bearing material of as many species as possible to be used for studies of the gametophytes. In a number of instances species and varieties were collected in areas not previously recorded for the plants in question. These notes are intended, therefore, to bring distribution records and related matters up to date. The most recent floras and monographs are accepted as accurate accounts of previous collections. Unless otherwise stated, the collection numbers are mine. CHEILANTIIES MEXICANA Davenp. Knobloch and Correll (1962) state that this species is confined to Chihuahua and San Luis Potosi. However, its distribution is known to be more general. It is very abundant and well-developed in the mountains of Guanajuato between the towns of Guanajuato and Dolores Hidalgo (1968, 3078). It also occurs in northern Jalisco (1981) and to the northwest in Durango (3166, 3173). In the last named localities the plants were in much more exposed and drier habitats than the oak woods of Guanajuato. Ecologically this very close relative of C. lendigera (Cav.) Swartz is quite distinct; at least, all of my collections of the latter came from much more moist situations than those occupied by C. mexicana. C. LINDHEIMERI (J. Smith) Hooker A collection from Zimapan, Hidalgo (3109) represents a southeastern extension of the range from that recorded by Knobloeh and Correll (1962). C. PARISHII Davenp. Until 1964 this species was unknown except from its type

Specific Limits and Distribution of Meadowlarks of the Desert Grassland

THE polytypic Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) has a breeding range that extends throughout eastern North America westward to Ontario, Nebraska, Texas, and Arizona, and southward through Central and South America as far as northern Brazil. A monotypic sibling species, the Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta), breeds only in western North America eastward to the Great Lakes region, Missouri, and Texas, and southward on the Mexican plateau to northern Jalisco. A poorly differentiated northwestern race, S. neglecta confluenta, is currently recognized by the A.O.U. Check-list (1957). The breeding ranges of these species overlap broadly throughout the north-central United States, from Oklahoma northeastward into Ontario. Their behavioral and ecological interrelationships within this zone of sympatry have been described elsewhere (Lanyon, 1953, 1956, 1957). A similar analysis of their sympatric relationship in the southwestern United States and in Mexico has been delayed because of the (1) considerable confusion that exists even among contemporary ornithologists as to the specific identification of the meadowlarks breeding in these regions and, owing to this confusion, (2) a lack of reliable distributional data for these areas. The Mexican Check-list states, for example, that the southern limits of the breeding ranges of S. neglecta and S. magna lilianae are not known (Miller et al., 1957). The objectives of this paper are (1) to present the specific limits for those populations of the two species that are involved in the area of geographical overlap in the southwestern United States and Mexico, and (2) to summarize the distributional data for this area based on a reexamination of the material currently available. A preliminary discussion of their ecological relationships in this zone is included. A map of the breeding ranges of the populations under consideration here is presented in Figure 1. On the basis of evidence reviewed during this study, the current taxonomic treatment of the breeding populations within the area of geographical overlap in the southwestern United States and in Mexico appears adequate (Miller et al., 1957), with two races of magna and the monotypic neglecta involved. The breeding ranges of the three races appear to be as follows (cf. Figure 1): (1) Sturnella magna lilianae Oberholser breeds from north-central Arizona east to central eastern New Mexico and south to northern Sonora, Chihuahua, and the Big Bend region of Texas; (2) S. magna auropectoralis Saunders breeds from Sinaloa and central Durango southward, intergrading with S. m. alticola south of the area of sympatry;

The Chalchihuites Culture of Northwestern Mexico

For many years a Chalchihuites type of culture has been designated for a number of archaeological sites in the western parts of the states of Durango and Zacatecas, Mexico (Hrdlička 1903; Gamio 1910; Noguera 1930; Mason 1937; Brand 1939). The culture takes its name from the early-studied and partiallytested site of the same name located in northwestern Zacatecas.Chalchihuites culture has been noted by Mason to extend as far south as the great site of La Quemada, or Chicomostoc as it is also called, some 35 miles southwest of Zacatecas, Zacatecas (Mason 1937). It is prevalent in southern Durango in the vicinity of the city of Durango, and Mason and Brand believe that at Zape, Durango, 150 miles to the north, it had reached its northern limit. At Zape it had become peripheral and attenuated, having lost much of its fine quality. As more information is obtained, it is possible that the culture may be extended to a group of sites in northern Jalisco.