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Historical documentation of the Allegheny Woodrat (Neotoma magister) in Massachusetts
Timm, Robert M. Jones, Gwilym S. French, Thomas W. Cardoza, James E.
Timm, Robert M.
Jones, Gwilym S.
French, Thomas W.
Cardoza, James E.
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Abstract
Although most summaries of the distribution of the Allegheny Woodrat, Neotoma magister, do not include the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, there are two historical reports that lack details of its distribution in Massachusetts. Herein, we review those literature reports and provide details on a specimen from the Berkshire Mountains taken in 1958. No additional observations of woodrats have been documented in Massachusetts over the subsequent 60 years. Recent searching for evidence of woodrats at the Berkshire Mountains site and efforts in the past several decades to locate a population elsewhere in Massachusetts have not been successful. The Allegheny Woodrat historically did occur in Massachusetts and, based on the limited available habitat and the documented patterns of decline in other portions of the Northeast, especially New York, it is almost surely now extirpated from the Commonwealth.
Description
Date
2019-12
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Publisher
Research Projects
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Keywords
conservation biology, extirpated, Mammalia
Citation
Timm, R. M., G. S. Jones, T. W. French, and J. E. Cardoza. 2019. Historical documentation of the Allegheny Woodrat (Neotoma magister) in Massachusetts. Northeastern Naturalist 26(4):N46–N51.