White-throated woodrat

Distribution

The ranges of the white-throated woodrat and its subspecies are from the southeastern corners of Nevada and California across southern Utah and all of Arizona to southwestern Colorado, across west Texas and south to central Mexico.

⤷ ''Neotoma albigula albigula'' – Northern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona south along the east side of the Sierra Madre Oriental, to southern Coahuila, Mexico. Also central Texas to western Arizona, and south along the western side of the Sierra Madre Occidental to central Sonora
⤷ ''Neotoma albigula brevicauda'' – Utah and Colorado
⤷ ''Neotoma albigula durangae'' – Southwestern Chihuahua and central Durango, Mexico
⤷ ''Neotoma albigula laplataensis'' – Utah, Colorado, and Arizona
⤷ ''Neotoma albigula latifrons'' – Michoacán, Mexico
⤷ ''Neotoma albigula leucodon'' – East of the Rio Grande in New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma; Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Querétaro, Hidalgo, and southeastern Coahuila, Mexico
⤷ ''Neotoma albigula mearnsi'' – Arizona
⤷ ''Neotoma albigula melanura'' – Central Sonora, Chihuahua, and Sinaloa, Mexico
⤷ ''Neotoma albigula melas'' – New Mexico
⤷ ''Neotoma albigula robusta'' – Texas
⤷ ''Neotoma albigula seri'' – Northeastern Sonora, Mexico
⤷ ''Neotoma albigula sheldoni'' – Northeastern Sonora, Mexico
⤷ ''Neotoma albigula subsolana'' – Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, and Coahuila, Mexico
⤷ ''Neotoma albigula venusta'' – Colorado River valley in western Arizona south to Sonora and Baja California, Mexico
⤷ ''Neotoma albigula warreni'' – Colorado, Oklahoma, northeastern New Mexico, and Texas

In general, white-throated woodrats occupy desert grasslands, semiarid shrublands, saguaro cactus communities, pinyon-juniper woodlands, interior ponderosa pine forests, and Madrean evergreen woodland .

Habitat

The white-throated woodrat occupies a variety of plant communities from sea level to 9,200 feet but is most common in Sonoran and Chihuahuan desert grassland and desert shrub habitats. The white-throated woodrat is generally associated with creosotebush, mesquite, cacti ), catclaw acacia, and paloverde. These plants provide cover and succulent plant food , the 2 most critical habitat requirements for white-throated woodrat.

White-throated woodrats prefer habitat with low tree canopy cover, high shrub and rock cover, and coarse woody debris. When available, natural and human constructed riparian habitat may be used by white-throated woodrats.

Food

White-throated woodrats are opportunistic and primarily herbivorous [31]. Their diet consists of seeds, fruits, green portions of plants, flowers, small amounts of grass, and occasionally beetles , ants , and reptiles. Some of the most commonly consumed plants across the white-throated woodrat's range include mesquite flowers, leaves, seeds, and bark, cacti flowers, stems, and fruits, and yucca leaves.

Foods eaten by white-throated woodrats depend on availability. In Great Basin scrub desert and juniper woodlands in northern Arizona white-throated woodrat diet was 29% yucca, 24% juniper, 7% rabbitbrush , 6% sumac, 5% Apache-plume , 4% sagebrush , 4% saltbush, and 3% ephedra . In the Lower Sonoran zone of southern Arizona , cacti and mesquite were the primary foods eaten. When offered a choice between cacti with spines and cacti without, white-throated woodrats preferred those with spines, possibly because spines indicate cacti with more protein and less fibre. They also placed the spines around their nests, acting as a defence against predators. For a complete list of foods eaten by white-throated woodrats in the Santa Rita Experimental Range, see Vorhies and Taylor. In the southern Great Basin, Navajo yucca is an important food for the white-throated woodrat.

White-throated woodrats require large amounts of water obtained through various xerophytic plants, especially cacti. In Organ Pipe National Monument, white-throated woodrats relied heavily on teddybear cholla, buckhorn cholla , jumping cholla, and goatnut for water. In Coconino County, white-throated woodrats obtained water from evergreen species , which maintained a high year-round water content.

The white-throated woodrat diet varies seasonally. In Coconino County, white-throated woodrats ate a variety of plants, including deciduous shrubs, during warm, wet months when plant moisture was high. During cool, dry months, their diet was restricted largely to evergreen plants. Regardless of season, white-throated woodrats preferred to eat evergreen species. At Carrizo Creek, honey mesquite leaves, flowers, and fruits were the main foods eaten from the end of March until the end of summer. After honey mesquite lost its leaves, white-throated woodrats subsisted on stored beans, bark, and stems.

Some white-throated woodrats store food in their houses. Of 30 white-throated woodrat dens found in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, 77% contained stored food. The average weight of stored food was 2.2 pounds /den, range 0.1 to 9.3 pounds /den. Most stored food consisted of mesquite beans and cacti and forb seeds. In general, white-throated woodrats collect food within a 98- to 164-foot radius of their dens.

Predators

Predators of white-throated woodrat include weasels , bobcats , ring-tailed cats , coyotes , American badgers , Mexican spotted owls , great horned owls , bullsnakes , and rattlesnakes .