Southern California kit fox

Southern California kit fox
Conservation status
Extinct  (1903)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Canidae
Genus:	Vulpes
Species:	V. macrotis
Subspecies:	†V. m. macrotis
Trinomial name
†Vulpes macrotis macrotis Merriam, 1888
Synonyms
Vulpes velox macrotis

The Southern California kit fox (Vulpes macrotis macrotis) or long-eared kit fox is an extinct subspecies of kit fox native to Southern California and northern Baja California.

Taxonomy

The kit fox was described by Clinton Hart Merriam in 1888 based on a specimen apparently killed in Riverside, California by Frank Stephens. He believed kit foxes were a species that originated in Mexico and extended northwards to California. ^{[1] : 134} Before Merriam's description, the kit fox had been largely overlooked in Southern California, much to his shock. ^{[1] : 134  [2] : 303} The Southern California kit fox is the nominate subspecies of the kit fox. In 1933, Joseph Grinnell updated his list of California mammals to include newly-described mammals excluded in his 1913 and 1923 lists. Stephens provided more information on the type locality of the kit fox in the 1933 list, which is "more exactly, on western margin of the San Jacinto Plain in vicinity of Box Springs, within 10 miles south-east of Riverside". ^{[2] : 304}

Kit foxes have been classified as conspecific with the swift fox. The Southern California kit fox is classified as Vulpes velox macrotis when using this classification. The generic name Vulpes is Latin for "fox", while macrotis is Greek for "big-eared". ^{[3] : 14}

Description

The Southern California kit fox resembled the swift fox in general appearance but had larger ears, a smaller hindfoot, and brighter fur. ^{[4] : 196}

References

1. Merriam, Clinton Hart (1888-02-11). "Description of a new fox from Southern California". Proceedings of The Biological Society of Washington. 4: 134–138.
2. Clark Jr, H. O. (2011). "The history of arid-land fox discoveries in North America". Archives of Natural History. 38 (2): 300–312.
3. Cypher, Brian L. (2024-11-15). The San Joaquin Kit Fox: Biology, Ecology, and Conservation of an Endangered Species. Cornell University Press. ISBN   978-1-5017-7507-9.
4. Allen, G. M. (1942). "Extinct and vanishing mammals of the Western Hemisphere with the marine species of all the oceans". American Committee for International Wildlife Protection, Special Publications. 11: 1–620. doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.25799 .