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Peromyscus leucopus/maniculatus

Peromyscus leucopus/maniculatus
Abstract: External features of the tail and pelage, and quantitative cranial characteristics were used to discriminate Peromyscus leucopus from P. maniculatus (n = 204) from northeastern North America. Species assignments were based on the phenotype of salivary amylase. Characteristics of the pelage and tail yielded correct identification of 55% of adult specimens. A previously published discriminant-function equation based on 11 cranial measurements correctly classified 66% of adults and 56% of specimens of all age classes. Two new discriminant equations were generated based on 12 and 11 skull measurements, respectively. The first equation correctly classified 100% of skulls in two separate datasets (n = 164; n = 50), and the second correctly classified 94% in a single dataset (n = 195).

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Rich, S.M., C.W. Kilpatrick, K.L Shippee, K.L. Crowell. 1996. Morphological Differentiation and Identification of Peromyscus leucopus and P. maniculatus in Northeastern North America. Joumal of Mammalogy, 77(4):985-991