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Morphological Variability of the Steppe Lemming (Lagurus lagurus Pall.) in the Northeastern Part of the Species Range

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Abstract

The variability of 12 cranial and seven dental characters of adult steppe lemmings from six populations in the northeastern part of the species range was investigated using multivariate statistical analysis. The level of interpopulation differences in the size and shape of the skull significantly exceeds the level of sex differences. Isolated populations of the steppe lemming from the Chulym–Yenisei depression are larger in skull size compared to animals from Western Siberia and Kazakhstan, and they have a relatively shorter facial and nasal length, relatively shorter maxillary and mandibular tooth rows, and shorter occipital bone height. The animals from the Karasuk population are characterized by the smallest skull size. Comparison of the geographic differences between the samples to subspecies taxonomy let us assign the steppe lemmings from the Chulym–Yenisei depression to the subspecies abacanicus, and all others to the subspecies lagurus.

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Funding

This study was supported by The Federal Fundamental Scientific Research Programme for 2021–2025 (project no. FWGS-2021-0002).

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  1. Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 630091, Novosibirsk, Russia

    T. A. Dupal, S. A. Abramov & Yu. N. Litvinov

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  1. T. A. Dupal
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  2. S. A. Abramov
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Correspondence to T. A. Dupal.

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Conflict of interest. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Statement on the welfare of animals. This study was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, in compliance with the guidelines of the order of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Education of the Russian Federation (no. 742 as of November 13, 1984) and the Federal Law of the Russian Federation (no. 498-FL as of December 19, 2018). Field procedures and protocols were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees of the Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals (protocol 2020-02, 2021-01). This study did not include endangered or protected species.

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Dupal, T.A., Abramov, S.A. & Litvinov, Y.N. Morphological Variability of the Steppe Lemming (Lagurus lagurus Pall.) in the Northeastern Part of the Species Range. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 49, 645–655 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S106235902206005X

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