Phillips's kangaroo rat (''Dipodomys phillipsii'') 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 n ...

in the family

Heteromyidae Heteromyidae is a family of rodents consisting of kangaroo rats, kangaroo mice, pocket mice and spiny pocket mice. Most heteromyids live in complex burrows within the deserts and grasslands of western North America, though species within th ...

. 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 else ...

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 ...

. Its natural habitat is hot deserts. The species is named after John Phillips, an official of a Mexican mining company who sent zoological specimens, including the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...

of this kangaroo rat, to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Description

Phillips's kangaroo rat is a moderate-sized rodent with a small body and a long, banner-like tail. The incisors are smaller and less prominent than those of other kangaroo rats. There are four toes on the hind feet. The

pelage Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket ...

varies from ochre, through cinnamon to brownish/black. There are blackish markings on the face and the tail has dark lateral stripes which join near the white tip. The sexes are similar in appearance, but there is considerable variation in size and colouring over the animal's range. Individuals from southern populations are smaller and paler, and have a total length of about including a tail of . Northern individuals are medium to large, pale-coloured and have a fairly broad skull. Individuals from the central part of the range are medium or large and darker in colour.

Distribution and habitat

Phillips's kangaroo rat is endemic to Mexico. Its range extends from the central part of the

State of Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

southwards to the northern part of the State of Oaxaca. At one time, it was present in 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 w ...

, but has since died out there. Its altitudinal range is from . The species' typical habitat is arid or semi-arid land with bare ground, short grass, weeds, patches of low thornbrush, prickly pear and other species of

cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gree ...

Ecology

Phillips's kangaroo rat is nocturnal and lives in a burrow by day. Some burrows have a single entrance about in diameter, entering the ground at a slight angle, while others have several entrances a metre or so apart. The tunnels consist of curved cylindrical tubes about in diameter and a terminal chamber. Phillips' kangaroo rat forages on calm nights, even in frosty weather, but do not venture out during severe storms. It appears these kangaroo rats sometimes share their burrows with the silky pocket mouse (''Perognathus flavus''). Little is known of the breeding habits of this kangaroo rat, but females containing two or three embryos were found in June and October, and, when attempts were made to trap the animal, juveniles were caught in seven months of the year. The feeding habits are also obscure, but seeds and small green leaves have been found in the animal's cheek pouches, and

dandelion ''Taraxacum'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus is native to Eurasia and Nor ...

leaves have been found in one burrow.

Status

Phillips's kangaroo rat is common within its extensive range; the population is presumed to be large and seems to be stable. For these reasons, the IUCN lists the species as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

Taxonomic history

John Edward Gray John Edward Gray, FRS (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used for ...

's 1841

species description A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species that have be ...

, he named the species ''Dipodomys phillipii''. This has been considered to be a

typographical error A typographical error (often shortened to typo), also called a misprint, is a mistake (such as a spelling mistake) made in the typing of printed (or electronic) material. Historically, this referred to mistakes in manual type-setting (typography) ...

considering Gray referred to the species as ''D. phillipsii'' in a paper the following year. Other authors used various spelling;

Elliott Coues Elliott Ladd Coues (; September 9, 1842 – December 25, 1899) was an American army surgeon, historian, ornithologist, and author. He led surveys of the Arizona Territory, and later as secretary of the United States Geological and Geographic ...

used the spelling ''D. phillipsi''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q306215 Phillips's kangaroo rat Phillips's kangaroo rat Phillips's Kangaroo Rat Endemic mammals of Mexico Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Fauna of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt Mexican Plateau