Walter Woelber Dalquest

“ All along the eastern slope of the Plateau, between the elevations of approximately 2,000 and 4,500 feet, the belt of lush, dense vegetation of the upper humid division of the Tropical Life-zone constitutes a barrier to Mephitis and tends to exclude the hooded skunk from the arid territory below the humid belt. ”

“ The starting point for taxonomic work with Mephitis is A. H. Howell's "Revision of the skunks of the genus Chincha (N. Amer. Fauna, 20, 1901) ." Of the species Mephitis macroura, Howell (op. cit.) recognized three subspecies: M. m. macroura, M. m. milleri, and M. m. vittata.
The species M. macroura is restricted to the arid region made up mostly of the Mexican Plateau. Also, wherever the species occurs beyond this Plateau, as for example in Guatemala, at San Mateo del Mar in Oaxaca, in the vicinity of Piedras Negras in Veracruz, and in southern Arizona, aridity is marked. ”

“ Comparisons.—From Mephitis macroura macroura of the southern part of the Mexican Plateau, M. m. eximius differs in shorter head and body, relatively (to body) longer tail, and smaller skull. From Mephitis macroura vittata of the tropical lowlands of the Pacific slope of Oaxaca, M. m. eximius differs in slightly larger average size throughout and relatively longer tail.
Fig. 1. Map showing the geographic ranges of the four subspecies of the species Mephitis macroura. ”