Peromyscus megalops Merriam 1898

Peromyscus megalops Merriam 1898, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 12: 119.

Type Locality: México, Oaxaca, La Cieneguilla Ranch, near Santa María Ozolotepec, 10,000 ft (3048 m).

Vernacular Names: Broad-faced Deermouse.

Synonyms: Peromyscus auritus Merriam 1898; Peromyscus comptus Merriam 1898 .

Distribution: Humid forests in mountains of C Guerrero, S and NC Oaxaca, México.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: P. megalops species group. Following Osgood (1909), Hall (1981) continued to maintain melanurus as a subspecies, a form that Huckaby (1980) documented as a species distinct from P. megalops . Distribution and ecology reviewed by Musser (1964); Briones-Salas et al. (2001) recently documented the species in the Sierra Mazteca, NC Oaxaca. Carleton (1989) observed Osgood’s (1909) earlier arrangement of a megalops species group (including P. melanocarpus and P. melanurus) apart from the mexicanus species group; segregation from mexicanus complex receives support from genic data, but not including melanocarpus (Rogers and Engstrom, 1992) .