title

Skull variability of steppe and desert vole groups Sumeriomys–Microtus–Blanfordimys (Cricetidae)

author(s)

Volodymyr Peskov (orcid: 0000-0002-2389-6546) (1)
Iryna Syniavska (orcid: 0000-0002-7778-6254) (2)

affiliation

(1) National Museum of Natural History, NAS of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine)
(2) Institute of Zoology, NAS of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine)

bibliography

Theriologia Ukrainica. 2025. Vol. 30: 31–42.

DOI

language

Ukrainian, with English summary, titles of tables, captures to figs

abstract

The morphological variability of the skull of 28 samples of 14 species of Eurasian voles of the subgenera Microtus s. str., Sumeriomys and Blanfordimys was studied. According to principal component analyses, 95% of the total variance was explained by the first three components. The distribution of samples along PC1 shows an increase in the size of craniometric characters in the direction from the smallest Ukrainian Mіcrotus socialis nikolaevi and M. obscurus iphigeniae to the largest Blanfordimys afghanus and M. trancaspicus. Statistically significant taxonomic differences were found between the mean values of Cbl, HCr, CW, LBull, M1-3, and DL (t = 2.96–6.23 p < 0.05). The level of differentiation of samples by linear skull dimensions is higher among voles of the ‘socialis’ group compared to voles of the ‘guenteri’ group. In the ‘socialis’ group, there is a clear division between small voles with a relatively narrow skull (M. socialis, M. irani shidlovskii) and voles that have a large, wide skull with massive auditory bullae (M. paradoxus, some M. irani). The Armenian M. i. shidlowskii are smaller than other subspecies of M. irani and occupy an intermediate position between the Caucasian and Central Asian subspecies of M. socialis. In voles of the ‘guenteri’ group, the linear dimensions of the skull increase in the direction from the smallest Turkish M. elbeyli and M. dogramacii to the largest M. hartingi from Western Anatolia. An increase in the size of the auditory bulla is observed in the direction from M. hartingi to M. qazvinensis and M. anatolicus, while an increase in the size of the dentition and upper diastema is observed in the opposite direction, from M. qazvinensis to the Bulgarian samples of M. hartingi. According to the proportions of the skull, an increase in the relative width of the interorbital space with a decrease in the condylobasal length in the direction from M. hartingi to M. irani from the localities of Khorasan and Tehran. The main factors that influenced the emergence of craniometric differentiation were geographical isolation, in particular the presence of natural barriers, different levels of physiological adaptations to high temperature and humidity of the environment.

keywords

voles, variability and differentiation, craniometry, Sumeriomys, Microtus

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