Tamias quadrivittatus
Creators: name: Wilson, Don E.
name: Thomas E. Lacher, Jr
name: Mittermeier, Russell A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Rodentia
Sciuridae
Tamias
Tamias quadrivittatus

description: 185. Colorado Chipmunk <i>Tamias quadrivittatus</i> <b>French:</b> Tamia du Colorado / <b>German:</b> Colorado-Backenhornchen / <b>Spanish:</b> Ardilla listada de Colorado <b>Taxonomy.</b> Sciurus quadrivittatus Say, 1823, “[Arkansas River]...the place where the . river leaves the mountains:.” » Restricted: by C. H. Merriam in 1905 to about 26 mi. [42 km] below Canon City, Fremont County, Colorado. Three subspecies are recognized. <b>Subspecies and Distribution.</b> HT gq. quadrivittatus Say, 1823 — E Utah, Colorado, N Arizona, N New Mexico, and extreme W Oklahoma (USA). T.q.australisPatterson,1980—OrganMts,SCNewMexico(USA). T: q. oscuraensis Sullivan, 1996 — Oscura Mts, C New Mexico (USA). <b>Descriptive notes.</b> Head-body 125-3-132 mm, tail mean 99-6 mm; weight 45-2— 69-8 g. The Colorado Chipmunk has a dark gray to black mid-dorsal stripe and two lateral dark stripes, which are slightly paler than mid-dorsal stripe. Dark stripes are offset by light stripes, which vary from white to cream to buff. Head is reddish to cinnamon, often mixed with gray. A gray post-auricular patch sometimes occurs. Ventral pelage is cream to white. Sides of body, hips, and feet vary from ocherous to cinnamon. Subspecies australis has grayer pelage, and a grayish dorsal surface on feet. Subspecies oscuraensis is smaller than other subspecies and has reddish sides and a reddish brown dorsal surface on feet. Chromosome number of the Colorado Chipmunk is 2n = 38. Karyotype is type B for Tamias and consists of five pairs of metacentric autosomes, six pairs of submetacentric autosomes, seven pairs of acrocentric autosomes, a submetacentric X chromosome, and an acrocentric Y chromosome. <b>Habitat.</b> Rocky areas. The Colorado Chipmunk occurs in several types of vegetation, such as ponderosa pine forests (Pinus ponderosa, Pinaceae), spruce-fir forests (Picea, Pseudotsuga, Abies, all Pinaceae), pinyon-juniper (Pinus; Juniperus, Cupressaceae) or scrub oak (Quercus, Fagaceae) vegetation, desert shrub, and even alpine tundra. <b>Food and Feeding.</b> Diet of the Colorado Chipmunk consists mostly of seeds, but includes fruits oftrees, grasses, shrubs, and forbs. Insects and other animal matter area also consumed when available. It carries seeds in its cheek pouches and deposits them under rocks and in crevices to consume later, or caches them in an underground larder near the nest chamber to consume during winter. <b>Breeding.</b> Breeding season occurs from February to July, and varies by subspecies and distribution. Subspecies australis appears to have a bimodal reproductive season with one peak in February and another in July, although it is not clearif it is caused by a second litter or by late breeding. Breeding peaks also coincide with peaks in water availability. Nominate quadrivittatus breeds only once a year,in late spring. Litter size is 2-6 young and gestation is ¢.30-33 days. Young are weaned by c.6-7 weeks. Nests are built in underground burrows, crevices, and under rocks. <b>Activity patterns.</b> The Colorado Chipmunk is terrestrial, although sometimesit climbs to forage on trees and shrubs. It is diurnal and can be active year-round when weather is favorable. In severe winter weather, it may enter torporfor small periods, but emerge to forage as soon as weatheris favorable. <b>Movements, Home range and Social organization.</b> The Colorado Chipmunk has an overwinter survival of less than 33%, which leads to common local extinction and recolonization events. Average home range is ¢.2:7-2-8 ind/ha. Vocalizations consist of loud high pitched “chips” and trills, and are sometimes given when an individualis in a safe location. When threatened,it seeks cover in rocks, logs or trees. <b>Status and Conservation.</b> Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Subspecies australis and oscuraensis are threatened in New Mexico. The Colorado Chipmunk is locally common throughout most of its distribution and current population trend is stable. There currently are no major threats to the Colorado Chipmunk; however, effective conservation measures could be impaired by a lack of knowledge of species ecology and behavior. <b>Bibliography.</b> Bergstrom &amp; Hoffmann (1991), Best, Burt &amp; Bartig (1994), Merriam (1905), Rivieccio et al. (2003), Sullivan (1996), Thorington et al. (2012).
description: Published as part of <i>Don E. Wilson, Thomas E. Lacher, Jr &amp; Russell A. Mittermeier, 2016, Sciuridae, pp. 648-837 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 6 Lagomorphs and Rodents I, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions</i> on pages 791-792, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6840226