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Morphometric variations among Astacus astacus populations from different regions of the Balkan Peninsula

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Abstract

The morphometric variation among several populations of Astacus astacus from different regions of the Balkan Peninsula was studied based on a large set of morphometric parameters per crayfish. Differences in morphometry among populations from ten water bodies in Serbia, Slovenia and Albania were tested using a multiple discriminant analysis. Analyses included twenty-two morphometric parameters per crayfish. The most discriminant characteristics for separating males among populations were weight, head width (HEW), width of the carapace at the hind edges (CEW) and claw length (CLL), and for female populations those were abdomen length (ABL), rostrum width (ROW), total length (TL), claw length (CLL) and claw width (CLW). Our results improve the existing knowledge about the noble crayfish morphology, show clear differentiation between populations from various aquatic ecosystems and reflect geographical separation.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, Project No. TR31011.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of Kragujevac, Radoja Domanovića 12, 34000, Kragujevac, Serbia

    Simona Đuretanović, Aleksandra Milošković, Nataša Radojković, Milena Radenković & Vladica Simić

  2. Department of Organisms and Ecosystems Research, National Institute of Biology, Večna pot 111, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Martina Jaklič

  3. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Rooseveltov trg 6, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Ivana Maguire

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  1. Simona Đuretanović
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Correspondence to Simona Đuretanović.

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Đuretanović, S., Jaklič, M., Milošković, A. et al. Morphometric variations among Astacus astacus populations from different regions of the Balkan Peninsula. Zoomorphology 136, 19–27 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-016-0331-x

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