Craniometrical description of striped mouse (Apodemus agrarius Pallas, 1771) in Bulgaria as concerns of discovering of its European population patterns of similarity

Abstract

Comparative analysis of variations in 50 craniological parameters in 117 adult (59 male and 58 female) individuals of the striped mouse (Apodemus agrarius Pallas, 1771) in Bulgaria that belong to populations with 4 or 3 pairs metacentric chromosomes in the karyotype was performed. The identified craniological characteristic of the striped mouse populations in Bulgaria showed that the future analyses of its craniometric similarity to other European populations of A. agrarius should be performed based on: (i) their appurtenance to a specific chromosomal form and (ii) the presence of sexual dimorphism of their distinct craniological parameters. The skull morphometric characters, which do not exhibit sexual dimorphism, are quite effective for describing population geographical patterns of similarity. The comparative analysis of the population similarity of A. agrarius in European range manifested that the Bulgarian populations from both chromosomal forms are too similar to each other and ring-fenced in a separate group. Approximately similar level of craniological differentiation with the populations inhabiting Western Balkans and the central parts of Europe was calculated. The future use of expanded range of other phenetic craniodental characters as well as molecular genetic sources would certainly be necessity for understanding the evolutionary fate of the Bulgarian population of the species and their appropriate taxonomic designations.

Keywords

• striped mouse
• Apodemus agrarius
• skull morphometrics
• geographic variation
• Bulgaria