Comparative craniometric measurements of two sympatric species of Vulpes in Ikh Nart Nature Reserve, Mongolia

Abstract

In Mongolia, both the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and corsac fox (Vulpes corsac) occupy broad sympatric ranges, but despite their expansive ranges, few published details of the craniometry of either species exist in Mongolia and other parts of northern and central Asia. To determine the morphological differences between two species of foxes, we tested for morphological and morphometrical differences between the red (n = 13) and corsac (n = 11) foxes using 63 cranium measurements. All significantly different skull variables were larger for red foxes than corsac foxes. This paper reports comparison of the cranial measurements from skulls of red and corsac foxes and serves as a preliminary investigation of interspecific variation between these species.

Keywords

• Corsac fox; cranium; morphometry; red fox; Vulpes; skull