Morphological Variability of the Mandible Shape of the Common Vole Microtus arvalis (Rodentia, Arvicolidae) Semi-species from the Hybrid Zone

T A Mironova; V B Sycheva; A A Martynov; A R Gromov; D S Kostin; V A Komarova; D M Krivonogov; L A Lavrenchenko

doi:10.1134/S0012496619050065

Morphological Variability of the Mandible Shape of the Common Vole Microtus arvalis (Rodentia, Arvicolidae) Semi-species from the Hybrid Zone

Dokl Biol Sci. 2019 Sep;488(1):145-148. doi: 10.1134/S0012496619050065. Epub 2019 Nov 15.

Authors

T A Mironova¹, V B Sycheva², A A Martynov², A R Gromov², D S Kostin², V A Komarova², D M Krivonogov³, L A Lavrenchenko²

Affiliations

¹ Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia. talmir84@mail.ru.
² Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia.
³ Arzamas Branch, Lobachevsky State Univercity of Nizhny Novgorod, 603022, Arzamas, Russia.

PMID: 31732900
DOI: 10.1134/S0012496619050065

Abstract

The mandible shape of the common vole semi-species from the hybrid zone was studied for the first time using the methods of geometric morphometry. The hybrid specimens were found to display high morphological variability being closer to the parental Microtus obscurus than to M. arvalis form. The main trends of changes in the mandible shape were primarily observed in the horizontal plane.

MeSH terms

Animals
Arvicolinae / anatomy & histology*
Arvicolinae / genetics*
Mandible / anatomy & histology*
Species Specificity