Merriam's pocket gopher (''Cratogeomys merriami'') is a species of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

in the family Geomyidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, where it is found in the area of the

Valley of Mexico The Valley of Mexico ( es, Valle de México) is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with present-day Mexico City and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico wa ...

and the Valley of Toluca at elevations from 1800 to 4000 m. Its favored habitats are the Zacatonal grassland and temperate pine-oak woodlands, as well as farmland and rangeland. Its

karyotype A karyotype is the general appearance of the complete set of metaphase chromosomes in the cells of a species or in an individual organism, mainly including their sizes, numbers, and shapes. Karyotyping is the process by which a karyotype is disce ...

has 2n = 36 and FN = 68. Until 2005, what are now considered the separate species '' C. fulvescens'' and '' C. perotensis'' were included within this taxon. They were split off due to clear molecular, chromosomal and morphological differences. All three species are part of the '' C. castanops'' species group. The species is named after American mammalogist Clinton Hart Merriam. Although its distribution is patchy, it is not thought to be threatened.

References

Merriam's pocket gopher Endemic mammals of Mexico Fauna of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt Fauna of Central Mexico Natural history of the State of Mexico Merriam's pocket gopher Merriam's pocket gopher Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Geomyidae-stub