Year: 1994
Type: article
Abstract: The Sharp-tailed Grouse, Tyrnpanuchus phasianellus (Linnaeus), reached the southern limits of its historic range in northeastern New Mexico, where a population occupied Johnson and adjacent mesas in Colfax and perhaps Union counties (Ligon 1927, Bailey 1928).Since first reported, the New Mexico population has been variously assigned to the prairie subspecies T.. p. carnpestris (Ridgway), the Columbian T.. p. colurnbianus (Ord), or the high-plains form T.. p. jarnesi (Lincoln) (e.g., A.O.U.1886, 1895, 1931, 1957, Ligon 1927, Friedmann 1941, Aldrich and Duvall 1955, and Aldrich 1963).However, our study of the known specimens reveals that the New Mexico population was a distinct and undescribed subspecies, which diminished in numbers until presumably absorbed by an introduced population of jarnesi in the early 1950s.Since then, the species has entirely died out in the state, with the last specific report having been in 1954 (Merrill 1967).BACKGROUND The Sharp-tailed Grouse was first attributed to New Mexico by the A.O.U.(1886, 1895), which included the state within the range of T.. p. carnpestris (type locality: Illinois).At that time, only this and two other subspecies were recognized: T. p. phasianellus of boreal North America (type locality: Hudson Bay) and T.. p. colurnbianus of southwestern Canada and the Great Basin region (type locality: Columbia River).The basis for New Mexico's inclusion in this grouse's range may have been three U.S. National Museum of Natural History specimens (USNM 11485-11487) taken at Fort Massachusetts.However, this site was actually in the San Luis Valley of central-southern Colorado (Figure 1), although administered under the U.S. Army's "Department of New Mexico" command (Frazer 1963).Fort Massachusetts was active from 1852 until 1858, when replaced by Fort Garland (Frazer 1963).Only USNM 11486 from the Fort Massachusetts series remains at the U.S. National Museum of Natural History, number 11485 having been exchanged to the University of Kentucky in 1872 and 11487 to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in 1877 (we did not attempt to relocate either of these specimens).The original label on no.11486 bears the locality "Ft.Mass, NM" and gives the collector as "Capt.Bowman."A Captain Andrew W. Bowman was assigned to the Department of New Mexico in 1852 (Frazer 1963) and thus may have collected these grouse.Although aged and foxed, the USNM specimen appears to be columbian us--not jarnesi as postulated by Giesen and Braun (1993).Colurnbianus has been documented elsewhere in southwestern Colorado near Pagosa Springs (Lincoln 1917), about 150 km southwest of Fort Massachusetts (Figure 1).
Source: Western Birds
Authors: Dickerman, Robert W., Hubbard, John P.
Institution: University of New Mexico
Language: English
Topic: Avian ecology and behavior
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W42425318