Least Shrew, Cryptotis parva, in Southwestern Kansas and Southeastern Colorado

Annotated checklist of the recent mammals of Colorado

“…Cryptotis parva (Least Shrew)-Found in river drainage systems in the northeastern portion of the state to the northern Front Range and from Baca County (Choate and Reed, 1988). This record was cited by Fitzgerald et al (1995) Myotis californicus (California Myotis)-Occurs in most counties along the western border as far east as central Moffat and Garfield counties in the north and south-central La Plata County in the soutli (Armstrong et al, 1994).…”

Seventy-five years of mammalogy, 1919-1994

“…The dynamic nature of species limits on a shorter time scale is indicated by numerous documented cases in which boundaries of individual species have expanded or con-tracted recently in North America over a relatively few years of time. For example, Dasypus novemcinctus (Fitch et al, 1952; Smith and Lawlor, 1964), Baiomys taylori (Baccus et al, 1971), and Sigmodon hispidus (Genoways and Schlitter, 1967), extended their ranges northward; Marmota monax extended westward in Kansas (Choate and Reed, 1986); Lepus californicus extended eastward in Texas (Packard, 1963); Spermophilus richardsoni (Hansen, 1962) extended southward in Colorado; and since 1960 Sorex cinereus, Microtus pennsylvanicus, Mustela nivalis, and Zapus hudsonius have extended southward in Kansas (Frey, 1992). It is more difficult to demonstrate retractions in ranges, but surely these have been occurring as well.…”