Abstract
In East Africa, cape hares (Lepus capensis) and savanna hares (L. victoriae) look much alike where their ranges overlap. Earlier studies suggested discrimination between the two species by several skull traits, but did not present morphometric statisitics. Our present discriminant analysis based on seven metric variables of the occipital bone related to skull length (condylobasal length) resulted in a high (95.1%) overall probability of correct separation of the two species. While all cape hares were classified correctly, correct classification was a bit lower in savanna hares (88.2%). A principal components analysis of the same variables confirmed the shape difference for the two species. Both region and sex-specific variation in the shape of the studied occipital bone complex was found in savanna hares but not in cape hares. The somewhat reduced level of correct identification of savanna hares might be due to a tendency for higher shape variation. Application of our discriminant analysis to other regions in East Africa is discussed.
Zusammenfassung
Ostafrikanische Kap- und Savannenhasen (Lepus capensis und L. victoriae) ähneln einander stark im Phänotyp, dort wo sie im selben Lebensraum vorkommen, und selbst bei genauer Analyse des Schädels ist eine korrekte Artbestimmung bisweilen nicht leicht. Ausgehend von der (nichtquantifizierten) Beobachtung, dass beide Arten sich in der Form des Basioccipitalknochens unterscheiden, haben wir eine Diskriminanzanalyse für beide Arten anhand von sieben Messstrecken durchgeführt. Durch geeignete Transformationen der Einzelmessstrecken wurden dabei ausschließlich Gestaltelemente des Basioccipitale erfasst, und es ergab sich für unsere ostafrikanische Stichprobe mit 95.1% richtiger Artzuordnungen ein akzeptables Niveau. Während alle Kaphasen korrekt klassifiziert wurden, war dies nur für 88.2% der Savannenhasen der Fall. Eine Hauptkomponentenanalyse bestätigte die erfassten Gestaltunterschiede im Basioccipitalkomplex. Während für die Kaphasen keine geschlechts- oder Lebensraum-spezifischen Gestaltunterschiede feststellbar waren, traf beides für Savannenhasen zu. Wegen dieser größeren Gestaltvariation bei den Savannenhasen empfiehlt es sich, die gegenwärtig entwickelte Diskriminanzfuntion nur regional anzuwenden, und für andere Teile der Verbreitungsgebiete der beiden Arten eigene Funktionen zu entwickeln.
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Suchentrunk, F., Flux, J.E.C., Flux, M.M. et al. Multivariate discrimination between East African cape hares (Lepus capensis) and savanna hares (L. victoriae) based on occipital bone shape. Mamm Biol 72, 372–383 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2006.10.014
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2006.10.014