MENSURAL DISCRIMINATION OF 4 SPECIES OF PEROMYSCUS (RODENTIA, MURIDAE) IN THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED-STATES

We subjected 17 mensural characters from a total of 460 cotton mice (P eromyscus gossypinus), white-footed mice (P. leucopus), deer mice (P, maniculatus), and old-field mice (P. polionotus) to discriminant analy sis to maximally distinguish among specimens of these species in the s outheastern United States. If external measurements are available, 13 characters are necessary to correctly classify all specimens. If exter nal measurements are not available, 14 cranial characters discriminate at most 91% of the specimens. In pairwise comparisons using external and skull measurements, at least 98% of specimens can be separated wit h one or two characters. In pairwise comparisons (except P. leucopus-P . maniculatus) using only skull measurements, at least 95% of specimen s can be correctly identified to species with one or two characters. F or P. leucopus and P. maniculatus, six characters correctly separate 8 6% of the specimens, and two characters separate 82%.