Aging of white-tooth shrews (Crocidura: Soricidae)

Abstract

Morphological diagnostics of white-tooth shrews species is a difficult task. Main origins of this difficulty are the overlapping and uncertainty of external characteristics for the individuals of different species having different ages. In the article, we determine the age variability of three species of white-tooth shrews (C. suaveolens, C. leucodon and C. russula) by using of two techniques: by the presence (or absence) of suture between main wedge-shaped and main occipital bones (Zaitsev, 1991) and size I1 (Mezhzherin, Kirichuk, 1986). We conclude that both techniques are correlate for C. russula, but do not correlate for C. suaveolens.

Keywords

• white-tooth shrews
• aging techniques
• unicaspids (i1)
• cranial sutures