Species–area relationships and nestedness patterns were studied in three groups of small terrestrial vertebrates (mammals, reptiles, amphibians) on 14 landbridge islands of the eastern Adriatic. Islands ranged in surface area between 15 and 410 km2 and contained from eight to 36 species from a total species pool of 48. Reptiles were the most species rich group (S = 28), and had more species than mammals (S = 13) and amphibians (S = 7) combined. Island surface area predicted species richness best in reptiles (r2 = 0.79) and most poorly in amphibians (r2 = 0.52). Mammals showed a significantly lower slope of the species–area curve than amphibians and reptiles, and thus accumulated species counts with increase in area at the lowest rate. Nestedness patterns in all groups were significantly more organised than expected by chance. Amphibian nested structure points to extinction dominated and well insularised populations with no subsequent recolonisations. Frequent unexpected presences and absences in the nestedness patterns of mammals and reptiles suggest complex biogeographic histories for these two groups, with several factors putatively in operation: heterogeneity in habitats and the original source fauna, post- isolation immigrations and differential extinction rate due to human-caused habitat degradation.
We karyotyped six species of Microtus voles collected along the southern edge of their range in northern and western Iran. Diploid and fundamental numbers were as follows: M. socialis and M. paradoxus 2n = 62, FNa = 60,
M. qazvinensis 2n = 54, FNa = 54, M. transcaspicus 2n = 52, FNa = 52, and
M. mystacinus (= M. rossiaemeridionalis) 2n = 54, FNa = 54. Two cytotypes were retrieved in M. irani from its type locality: 2n = 48, FNa = 46 and 2n = 64, FNa = 62. While our results confirmed an early report of 2n = 64 for this vole, the 2n = 48 cytotype remains unexplained. Karyological variability is relatively low in social voles and chromosomal data contribute little to individual species recognition. We argue that Arvicola mystacinus
De Filippi, 1865, described from Lar Valley (north-east of Tehran) is the oldest available name for 2n = 54 voles with the following synonyms:
M. subarvalis Meyer, Orlov & Skholl, 1969, M. epiroticus Ondrias, 1966, and
M. rossiaemeridionalis Ognev, 1924.
Small mammals are just as likely to become extinct as larger species, although the latter receive disproportionate attention with respect to conservation activity and research. We focused on rarity, vulnerability to extinction and conservation status for small terrestrial mammals from the orders Soricomorpha and Rodentia occurring in the Balkans and Anatolia. Although these two regions have fewer mammalian species than Central Europe in very small biota areas (surface areas 4 km2), they accumulate species at a much faster rate with increases in surface area. The distribution ranges of fifteen species from a total of 88 (= 17%) are confined to this studied area, with eight species being endemic to Anatolia and six to the Balkans. High endemism is indicative of small ranges, i.e. of one form of rarity of Rabinowitz’s ‘seven forms of rarity’ model. The ranges of at least three species (Talpa davidiana, Myomimus roachi and Dinaromys bogdanovi) have declined since the Last Glacial Maximum. Although numbers of extinctions correlates strongly with the number of endemics, and species displaying both restricted distribution and low density are those most at risk of extinction, very little conservation activity and research is focused on small-range endemics.
We studied phenotypic relationships among six European Apodemus species (A. agrarius, A. epimelas, A. flavicollis, A. sylvaticus, A. uralensis, and A. alpicola) using landmark based morphometrics. Cartesian coordinates of 14 landmarks were recorded on the occlusal projection of upper molars from 175 specimens. Results revealed A. agrarius as the most distinct, having long and slender molars. Since primitive members of the genus (A. atavus, A. orientalis, A. dominans) are characterised by broad and robust molars, we conclude that A. agrarius is the most derived in this respect. Within the Sylvaemus subgenus/species group A. epimelas differed from the remaining four species in having more robust molars and a relatively longer second molar. Within the remaining four species two clusters emerged, although differences between them were slight. The flavicollis-sylvaticus tandem exhibited a relatively shorter second molar and more robust first molar. In five Sylvaemus, the robustness of molars correlated negatively with molar size, suggesting that between-species differences in molar shape result from allometric relations.
We compared cranial, dental, bacular and chromosomal variables between a population of Graphiurus murinus collected in riverine forest in the Andries Vosloo Kudu Reserve (AVKR) near Grahamstown (N= 32), and another from Afromontane forest at Hobbiton on Hogsback (HH), in the Amathole Mountains (N=21), Eastern Cape, South Africa. AVKR dormice were significantly larger in 13 out of a total of 23 cranial dimensions and they had a relatively longer rostrum. The 4th upper premolar was clearly longer and the tip of the baculum broader in the sample from HH. Discriminant function analyses of cranial and dental parameters perfectly separated the two samples. The karyotypes were the same at both localities (2n= 46; NFa = 92) but differed from previously reported karyotypes of Graphiurus species from Africa.
The cranial and dental morphology of field mouse from the island of Rhodes suggests that they belong to Apodemus iconicus (=A. hermonensis) rather than to A. sylvaticus or any other Sylvaemus species. Morphological identification was supported by partial mitochondrial cytochrome b nucleotid sequences (370 bp long DNA fragment). Samples from the islands of Rhodes and Bozcaada shared 98% identity in nucleotide and 100% identity in amino acid sequences with Apodemus iconicus from Anatolia.
Number of nipples varied between ten and twelve in a sample of 51 female edible dormice Glis glis from Slovenia. Ten nipples were by far the most common condition (82 % of specimens) and only two females had twelve. Animals with eleven nipples were asymmetric in the anterior inguinal pair. Three females from Monte Gargano (Italy) had 10, 11 and 11 nipples, but the asymmetric pair was the posterior abdominal one. Since the prevailing condition among dormice (family Gliridae) is eight nipples, it is suggested that high nipple count in the edible dormouse is an ecological adaptation to a multi-annual variation in resources. Due to irregularities in mast-production years, females do not reproduce annually, which possess demands for larger litters. Either the anterior inguinal (Slovenia) or posterior abdominal pair (Italy) is involved in a switch from ten to twelve nipple condition, with the difference possibly showing a geographic pattern.
We present a phylogenetic analysis of snow voles by combining all published cytochrome b sequences of 47 species of Microtus, Blanfordimys, Neodon and Chionomys and a new sequence from Chionomys gud. By applying powerful, modern approaches to phylogenetic reconstruction such as maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference methods (BI), we provide new information on the relationships between Chionomys and Microtus. Both phylogenetic analysis methods showed that the genus Microtus is paraphyletic with respect to Blanfordimys, Neodon and Microtus gregalis. The BI topology recovered strong support for the monophyly of Chionomys + Microtus gregalis, while th monophyly of Chionomys was supported only by the ML analysis. The two Chionomys lineages (defined by molar morphology and karyological features), “nivalis” (C. nivalis) and “roberti” (C. gud and C. roberti), were strongly supported by cytochrome b analysis.