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Morphometric study of two species of wood miceApodemus sylvaticus andA. flavicollis (Rodentia: Muridae): traditional and geometric morphometric approach

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Abstract

Skull shape and size were investigated in 311 specimens ofApodemus sylvaticus (Linnaeus, 1758) andA. flavicollis (Melchior, 1834), using traditional and geometric morphometric approach. We searched for potential morphometric diagnostic criteria between these morphologically similar mice and we an alyzed the interpopulation morphometric variation. Specific status of all individuals was identified by scoring four diagnostic allozyme markers. Discriminant analysis based on 16 cranial measure ments as well as that based on land mark data for ventral side of the skull discriminated in dividuals with 99.7% accuracy. The classification functions useful for practical discrimination of unknown specimens are given. Our data showed neither clear intraspecific geographical pattern among studied populations nor evidence for character displacement in syntopic populations ofA. sylvaticus andA. flavicollis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31, 370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Lenka Barčiová

  2. Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics ASCR, Veveří 97, 602 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Miloš Macholán

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  1. Lenka Barčiová
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  2. Miloš Macholán
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Associate Editor was Magdalena Niedzialkowska.

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Barčiová, L., Macholán, M. Morphometric study of two species of wood miceApodemus sylvaticus andA. flavicollis (Rodentia: Muridae): traditional and geometric morphometric approach. Acta Theriol 51, 15–27 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03192651

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03192651

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