Thanks Gordon. I'll check out those other books too. I didn't think to take a good profile that would show the spines until I got the book. I find on pg. 125 though that there are P. maricopa "variants" in Texas. Just not this far up apparently.

So P. comanche would be californicus group, but also maricopa complex? On the P. comanche, distribution shows it to be pretty close though it is a "maricopa complex" and the ones collected south of here by Wheeler had very short unpronounced spines. It was stated that some in far west Texas were mistaken at first by Wheeler to be occidentalis because they had long spines. I'll just have to get you some good pics on these questionable one's I have with the funny lighter color and spines. A maricopa/barbatus complex hybrid?





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"A man that should call everything by it's right name, would hardly pass the streets without being knocked down as a common enemy." The Complete Works of George Savile, First Marquess of Halifax 1912,246

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