Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) floridanus orizabae (Merriam 1893)

Sylvilagus floridanus orizabae (Merriam)

Lepus orizabae Merriam, 1893:143.

Sylvilagus floridanus orizabae.—Nelson, 1909:183.

Lepus floridanus subcinctus Miller, 1899:386. [Type from Hacienda El Molino, near Negrete, Michoacan, Mexico. Holotype examined.]

Lepus floridanus persultator Elliot, 1903:147. [Type from Puebla. Puebla. Mexico. Holotype examined.]

Sylvilagus floridanus restrictus Nelson, 1907:82. [Type from Zapotlan, Jalisco, Mexico. Holotype examined.]

TYPE.—USNM 53318, adult, female, skin and skull, from Mount Orizaba, Puebla, Mexico. Holotype examined.

RANGE.—Sierra Madre Occidental of the northern panhandle of Jalisco and adjacent southwestern Zacatecas; higher mountains of the Central Mexican Plateau from Aguascalientes, eastern Jalisco, adjacent portions of southwestern San Luis Potosi, and northwestern Guanajuato; Transverse Volcanic Axis from central Jalisco eastward throughout the northern half of Michoacan, extreme southern Guanajuato, Mexico, Distrito Federal, Morelos, Tlaxcala, central third of Puebla, and extreme west-central Veracruz; Sierra Madre Oriental of extreme southeastern Coahuila, southern third of Nuevo Leon, extreme southwestern Tamaulipas, central third of San Luis Potosi, Queretaro, and Hidalgo. Marginal records in west-central Mexico: MICHOACAN: Quiroga, Tacambaro Hwy km 54, 2835 m; San Juan, Cerro Tancitaro, 2300 m. JALISCO: Sierra Nevada de Colima (Zapotlan), 1370–1525 m; 1.6 km SSE Ameca, 1220 m; Etzatlan, 1065 m; 3.2 km E Bolanos, 1080 m. ZACATECAS: Hacienda San Juan Capistrano; Valparaiso Mountains; 6.4 km N Villanueva, 2010 m. AGUASCALIENTES: 4.8 km N Cerro del Jaguez, 2500 m, Sierra Fria. SAN LUIS POTOSI: Cerro Penon Blanco, 2360 m.

DIAGNOSIS.—Externally: small to medium-sized with long ears. Skull: small to medium-sized in greatest length, zygomatic breadth, length of the maxillary and mandibular toothrows, mandibular ramus depth, and rostrum depth; however, with large auditory bullae. Color: variable, usually dark grayish dorsally but reddish gray dorsally in some areas of its range, ochraceous laterally, blackish gray rump patch, and whitish ventrally with a dusky neck patch.

COMPARISONS.—For comparisons of S. f. orizabae with S. f. macrocorpus and S. f. holzneri, see accounts of those subspecies.