Northern pocket gopher
Species of mammal
| Northern pocket gopher | |
|---|---|
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Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Geomyidae |
| Genus: | Thomomys |
| Species: | T. talpoides |
| Binomial name | |
| Thomomys talpoides (Richardson, 1828) | |
| Subspecies | |
| T. t. aequalidens | |
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The northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides) is a small gopher species native to the western United States and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Manitoba.
Description
Northern pocket gophers have long rich brown to yellowish brown fur, paler below, with a black patch behind the ear. They weigh 60-160 grams (2-5.5 ounces).
Habitat
Their habitat consists usually of good soil in meadows or along streams; most often in mountains, but also in lowlands. Northern pocket gophers rarely appear above ground; when they do, they rarely venture more than 2.5 feet from a burrow entrance. Underground, however, they often have tunnels that extend hundreds of feet where they live, store food, and mate.[2]
Interactions
According to an article in the Journal of Mammalogy, there are both positive and negative impacts of burrowing by pocket gophers on the organisms around them. Burrowing and grazing have an impact on the plants and the herbivores that consume these plants, even though gophers do not directly interact with the insects in their habitats. Changes in the plants’ composition can cause an increase in soluble amino acids, carbohydrates, chemicals, which causes the plants to be more vulnerable: to parasites, predation, and diseases.[3]
References
Wikispecies has information related to Northern pocket gopher.
- ^ Cassola, F. (2016). Thomomys talpoides (errata version published in 2017). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T42597A22215742.en
- ^ http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/mammals/mammals/pocket.html [dead link]
- ^ D. Gigi Ostrow, Nancy Huntly, Richard S. Inouye, Plant-Mediated Interactions Between the Northern Pocket Gopher, Thomomys Talpoides, and Aboveground Herbivorous Insects, Journal of Mammalogy, Volume 83, Issue 4, November 2002, Pages 991–998, https://doi.org/10.1644/1545-1542(2002)083<0991:PMIBTN>2.0.CO;2
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Extant species of family Geomyidae (Pocket gophers)
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Rodentia
- Suborder: Castorimorpha
- Superfamily: Geomyoidea
- Yellow-faced pocket gopher (C. castanops)
- Oriental Basin pocket gopher (C. fulvescens)
- Smoky pocket gopher (C. fumosus)
- Goldman's pocket gopher (C. goldmani)
- Merriam's pocket gopher (C. merriami)
- Perote pocket gopher (C. perotensis)
- Flat-headed pocket gopher (C. planiceps)
(Eastern pocket gophers)
- Desert pocket gopher (G. arenarius)
- Attwater's pocket gopher (G. attwateri)
- Baird's pocket gopher (G. breviceps)
- Plains pocket gopher (G. bursarius)
- Geomys jugossicularis
- Knox Jones's pocket gopher (G. knoxjonesi)
- G. lutescens
- Texas pocket gopher (G. personatus)
- Southeastern pocket gopher (G. pinetis)
- G. streckeri
- Central Texas pocket gopher (G. texensis)
- Tropical pocket gopher (G. tropicalis)
- Chiriqui pocket gopher (H. cavator)
- Cherrie's pocket gopher (H. cherriei)
- Darien pocket gopher (H. dariensis)
- Variable pocket gopher (H. heterodus)
- Hispid pocket gopher (H. hispidus)
- Big pocket gopher (H. lanius)
- Underwood's pocket gopher (H. underwoodi)
- Giant pocket gopher (O. grandis)
- Buller's pocket gopher (P. bulleri)
(Smooth-toothed
pocket gophers)
| Subgenus Megascapheus |
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| Subgenus Thomomys |
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- Michoacan pocket gopher (Z. trichopus)
Category
Authority control databases: National  |
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