Marmota flaviventer (Audubon & Bachman, 1841)
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.6840226 |
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DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6840696 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/064D0660-FFBC-ED41-FFCE-F84EF698F147 |
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treatment provided by |
Diego |
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scientific name |
Marmota flaviventer |
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Yellow-bellied Marmot
French: Marmotte a ventre jaune / German: Gelbbauchmurmeltier / Spanish: Marmota de vientre amarillo
Taxonomy. Arctomys flaviventer Audubon & Bachman, 1841 ,
“Mountains between Tex-
as and California.”
Restricted by A. H. How-
ell in 1915 to Mt. Hood, Oregon, USA.
Widely used specific and subspecific name [flaviventris has been changed, as in the original combination the final component venter is a latin noun and thus the name remains an invariable epithet in apposition. Eleven subspecies recognized.
Subspecies and Distribution.
M.f.flaviventerAudubon&Bachman,1841—NWUSA(CascadeRangeandNCSierraNevadaofOregonandCalifornia).
M.f.avaraBangs,1899—SWCanada(BritishColumbia)andWUSA(Washington,EOregon,WIdahoandNNevada).
M.f.dacotaMerriam,1889—NCUSA(endemictotheBlackHillsofSouthDakota).
M.f.engelhardtiJ.A.Allen,1905-WUSA(CtoSWUtah).
M.f.fortirostrisGrinnell,1921—WUSA(WhiteMtsofCaliforniaandNevada).
M.f.luteolaA.H.Howell,1914—WUSA(SCRockyMts,fromSWyomingtoNewMexico).
M.f.notiorosWarren,1934—WCUSA(WetMtsinSCColorado).
M.f.obscuraA.H.Howell,1914—SangredeCristoMtsinSCColoradoandNCNewMexico,SCUSA.
M. f. sierrae A. H. Howell, 1915 — S Sierra Nevada, California in SWUSA.
Descriptive notes. Head—body 470-700 mm, tail 130-220 mm; weight 1.6-5.2 kg. Dorsal pelage of the Yellow-bellied Marmot is grizzled gray to brown. Head is brown to black, usually with white patches around eyes, snout, and muzzle and on chin. Side of neck is buff, yellow, or orange. Feet are buff to brown. Venter is buff to yellow. Chromosomal complement is 2n = 42 and FN = 62. Subspecies sierrae is reddish. Subspecies parvula, fortirostris, avara, and engelhardti are diminutive forms. Subspecies obscura lacks light colored facial markings. Subspecies notioros is large and dark. Nominate flaviventer, nosophora, and luteola have light colored mantles on upper backs. Subspecies dacota has a red venter.
Habitat. Montane grassand forb-dominated meadows with loose talus, in flat grassland meadows within inland valleys and on margins of irrigated hayfields.
Food and Feeding. The Yellow-bellied Marmot is an herbivore that feeds primarily on young grasses, shoots of forbs, bulbs, sedges, mosses, and other herbaceous material growing in open grasslands.
Breeding. Male Yellow-bellied Marmots emerge before females and tunnel through snow to mate with females as they arouse from hibernation. Male testes regress in size just two weeks after emergence, which ends the breeding season. Gestation is ¢.30 days, after which litters of 4-5 young are born in burrows. Adult females rarely reproduce in successive years. Mating system is polygynous.Juveniles overwinter in natal areas; males and many females disperse as yearlings. Mothers and daughters form matrilines when some females remain philopatric, and these lineages can persist over several generations. Amicable, kin-biased behavior is most common.
Activity patterns. Yellow-bellied Marmots are diurnal. They are only active for 4-5 months each summer and hibernate as individuals in separate burrows for extended periods beginning in September—October.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. Burrow systems are modestly complex, frequently with several entrances leading to a terminal nest chamber 1-2 m belowground. Conspicuous trails often connect burrow entrances because colony members frequently move among entrances. Escape burrows that provide only short-term cover are less complex, with just a single entrance and short length. Behaviors are predominantly amicable between social-group members; non-group members are aggressively chased. Survival ofjuveniles can be highly variable (15-90%) annual adult survival is typically 65-80%. Female survival is greater than that of males. Majority of losses occurs during hibernation. Communication is most often visual and auditory, but the Yellow-bellied Marmot also scent-marks on structures and burrows. Individuals make moderately complex calls when surveying their surroundings and standing on their haunches. “Chirps” are by far the most common calls, increasing in frequency as perceived risk increases and with important ground predators.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Population trend of the Yellow-bellied Marmotis stable. Habitat degradation due to direct anthropogenic actions and climate change in high-elevation meadows is a major challenge. It can be considered a pest in agricultural fields.
Bibliography. Anthony (1928), Armitage (1991, 2013a, 2013b, 2014), Armitage & Schwartz (2000), Frase & Hoffmann (1980), Howell (1915b), Maldonado-Chaparro, Hubbard & Blumstein (2015), Maldonado-Chaparro, Martin et al. (2015), Petelle et al. (2015), Schwartz et al. (1998), Thorington et al. (2012).
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.
