Peromyscus merriami Mearns 1896

Peromyscus merriami Mearns 1896, Preliminary diagnosis of new mammals from the Mexican border of the United States: 2; preprint of Proc. U. S. Natl. Mus ., 19: 138.

Type Locality: México, Sonora, Sonoyta, on Sonoyta River.

Vernacular Names: Merriam's Deermouse.

Synonyms: Peromyscus goldmani Osgood 1904 .

Distribution: SC Arizona, USA, through W Sonora to C Sinaloa, México.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: P. eremicus species group. Osgood (1909) placed merriami under P. eremicus, a synonymy overturned by Hoffmeister and Lee (1963 a), who documented their sympatric occurrence and morphological differentiation. Geographic variation evaluated by Hoffmeister and Diersing (1973), who retained goldmani as a subspecies; Lawlor (1971 b) did not. Generally related to to P. eremicus sensu lato (Avise et al., 1974; Lawlor, 1971 a) and to P. pembertoni (Lawlor, 1971 a, 1983); based on mitochondrial DNA sequences, viewed as cognate species to P. eremicus sensu stricto, which together form a sister group to the clade of P. eva and P. fraterculus (Riddle et al., 2000 a, c). Includes the insular form dickeyi according to mitochondrial DNA (COIII) comparisons (Hafner et al., 2001).