Ochotona (Pika) princeps Richardson 1828

Ochotona (Pika) princeps Richardson 1828, Zool. J., 3: 520.

Type Locality: "Rocky Mountains"; restricted by Preble (1908) to "near the sources of Elk (Athabasca) River," [Athabasca Pass, head of Athabasca River, Alberta, Canada].

Vernacular Names: American Pika.

Subspecies::

Subspecies Ochotona (Pika) princeps subsp. princeps Richardson 1828

Subspecies Ochotona (Pika) princeps subsp. figginsi Allen 1912

Subspecies Ochotona (Pika) princeps subsp. saxatilis Bangs 1899

Subspecies Ochotona (Pika) princeps subsp. schisticeps Merriam 1889

Subspecies Ochotona (Pika) princeps subsp. taylori Grinnell 1912

Distribution: Mountains of W North America from C British Columbia (Canada) to N New Mexico, Utah, C Nevada, and EC California (USA).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc); isolated subspecies in the Great Basin: IUCN – Vulnerable (goldmani, lasalensis, nevadensis, nigrescens, obscura, sheltoni, tutelata; A. T. Smith et al., 1990).

Discussion: Subgenus Pika . Broadbooks (1965) and Youngman (1975) considered princeps and collaris conspecific. Corbet (1978 c), following Gureev (1964), included princeps in alpina . A statistical reevaluation of craniometric data by Weston (1981) indicated that princeps, collaris, and alpina are separate species. Hafner and Sullivan (1995) analyzed allozymic variation from 56 populations of princeps, with collaris as outgroup (see above). All but eight of the populations were placed in one of five regional populations, those eight being geographically intermediate. Reviewed by Smith and Weston (1990, Mammalian Species, 352). Allozyme studies revealed 4-5 main groups of populations in this species (Hafner and Sullivan, 1995). Synonyms listed here follow these groupings: (1) Northern Rockies, (2) Central Rockies, (3) Southern Rockies, (4) Sierra Nevada-Great Basin, (5) Cascades.