The white-throated woodrat (Neotoma albigula) is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found from central Mexico north to Utah and Colorado in the United States. It is primarily a western species in the United States, extending from central Texas west to southeastern California. Populations east of the Rio Grande in New Mexico and Trans-Pecos Texas, previously considered to be variants of the white-throated woodrat, have since 1988 been assigned to the white-toothed woodrat (N. leucodon). The animal lives mostly in the Upper and Lower Sonoran life zones, occurring from pinyon-juniper woodland in higher country to desert habitats at lower elevations. As with other species of woodrats, the white-throated woodrat constructs middens of a variety of materials such as sticks, cactus parts, and miscellaneous debris. An above-ground chamber within the midden contains a nest lined with grasses and kept free of feces. In non-rocky areas, the den usually is several feet in diameter and most commonly built around the base of a shrub that gives additional cover. In areas of rocky outcrops, crevices often are utilized, with sticks and other materials preventing free access to the nesting chamber. Molecular data suggest that this species separated from other species of the Neotoma floridana group (Neotoma floridana, Neotoma micropus, Neotoma leucodon) about 155,000 years ago during the Illinoian Stage of the Pleistocene. This is consistent with the oldest known fossils from Slaton, Texas. This rodent is a common fossil in Southwestern cave faunas, with over 20 fossil localities of Pleistocene age known from New Mexico alone.
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.
N. a. albigula (Hartley) – 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 N. a. brevicauda (Durrant) – Utah and Colorado N. a. durangae (J. A. Allen) – Southwestern Chihuahua and central Durango, Mexico N. a. laplataensis (F.W. Miller) – Utah, Colorado, and Arizona N. a. latifrons (Merriam) – Michoacán, Mexico N. a. leucodon (Merriam) – 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 N. a. mearnsi (Goldman) – Arizona N. a. melanura (Merriam) – Central Sonora, Chihuahua, and Sinaloa, Mexico N. a. melas (Dice) – New Mexico N. a. robusta (Blair) – Texas N. a. seri (Townsend) – Northeastern Sonora, Mexico N. a. sheldoni (Goldman) – Northeastern Sonora, Mexico N. a. subsolana (Alvarez) – Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, and Coahuila, Mexico N. a. venusta (True) – Colorado River valley in western Arizona south to Sonora and Baja California, Mexico N. a. warreni – Colorado, Oklahoma, northeastern New Mexico, and Texas In general, white-throated woodrats occupy desert grasslands, semiarid shrublands, saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) cactus communities, pinyon-juniper (Pinus-Juniperus spp.) woodlands, interior ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa var. scopulorum) forests, and Madrean evergreen woodland (Pinus spp.-Quercus spp.).
Preferred habitat The white-throated woodrat occupies a variety of plant communities from sea level to 9,200 feet (2,800 m) 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 (particularly prickly-pear and cholla (Cylindropuntia spp.)), catclaw acacia, and paloverde. These plants provide cover and succulent plant food (>50% water by weight) (see section "Food habits"), 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.
Tree, shrub, and rock cover In several studies in Arizona, white-throated woodrats preferred low tree cover and high shrub, rock, and litter cover. In ponderosa pine-Gambel oak habitat in the Hualapai Mountains in Arizona, white-throated woodrat presence was negatively associated with high tree cover and high herbaceous cover and positively associated with high shrub and rock cover. On plots where white-throated woodrats were trapped, mean tree canopy cover ranged from 30% to 57%, mean herbaceous cover ranged from 2% to 10%, mean shrub cover ranged from 5% to 19%, and mean rock cover ranged from 3% to 14%. In desert riparian floodplain habitat at Montezuma Castle National Monument, Arizona, white-throated woodrats were more abundant in an active riparian channel and floodplain that had lower tree cover and a higher percentage of forbs and rocks than a mesquite bosque. The active riparian channel and floodplain was dominated by desert willow, velvet ash (Fraxinus velutina), Arizona sycamore (Platanus wrightii), and velvet mesquite. The mesquite bosque was dominated by velvet mesquite, catclaw acacia, and broom snakeweed. In pinyon-juniper woodlands in Grant County, New Mexico, total overstory density was more important than overstory species composition in influencing white-throated woodrat occurrence. The greatest densities of white-throated woodrat houses were on plots containing 376 to 750 overstory plants per hectare: White-throated woodrats prefer rocky areas within forested habitat, including ledges, slides, cliffs, and canyons. In a ponderosa pine forest on the Beaver Creek Watershed in the Coconino National Forest, all white-throated woodrats were captured within 210 feet (64 m) of rocky habitat. In ponderosa pine-Gambel oak habitat in the Hualapai Mountains, white-throated woodrat presence was positively associated with high (3% to 19%) rock cover.
Riparian The white-throated woodrat is well-adapted to xeric habitats, but may also be found in riparian areas. They may utilize both natural and human-constructed areas when available.
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