Geometric morphometric comparison of mandible and skull of five species of genus Allactaga (Rodentia: Dipodidae) from Iran

Iranian Journal of Animal Biosystematics

مقاله 4، دوره 6، شماره 1، مهر 2010، صفحه 61-69   

نوع مقاله: Articles

شناسه دیجیتال (DOI): 10.22067/ijab.v6i1.9159

نویسندگان

S. Tarahomi¹؛ M. Karami²؛ Jamshid Darvish^{* 3}؛ M. Malek¹؛ Maryam Jangjoo³

¹Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Science, Tehran University

²Department of Environmental Sciences and Fisheries, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran

³Rodentology Research Department, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

چکیده

The genus Allactaga is distributed in North Africa, Iran, Afghanistan, southwestern Syria, North Turkemenistan, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Mongolia. Six morphospecies have been reported from regions of Iran. Morphological differences among 41 specimens of A. elater, A. williamsi, A. hotsoni, A. firouzi, and A. toussi were investigated using landmark-based geometric morphometrics of the dorsal aspect of the skull and ventral aspect of the mandible. Results of canonical variate analysis (CVA) indicated that all species are distinguishable by skull shape. Canonical variate analysis showed that most studied species of Allactaga were separated along CV1. Cluster analysis indicated a high morphometric distance between A. toussi and A. elater, confirming the division of A. toussi and A. elater into different species. The species Allactaga williamsi exhibited the greatest morphometric distance from other studied species. Based on mandible shape, A. williamsi is similar to A. elater and A. toussi. Allactaga firouzi clustered with A. hotsoni, in comparison with the results obtained from skull shape variation, the morphometric distance between these two species is higher than other species.

کلیدواژه‌ها

Allactaga toussi؛ A. firouzi؛ Geometric Morphometrics؛ Iran؛ landmark؛ mandible؛ skull