Abstract
This paper presents the results of an analysis of about four hundred skulls of Myotis mystacinus and M. brandtii of the Holocene age from the Záskočie Cave (Central Slovakia). A review of criteria for species determination is presented, including a new criterion concerning the morphology of P4 roots, as well as the results of a statistical survey of skull dimensions and correlation and regression analyses. The author concludes that the above mentioned bats are not sibling species, but that they belong to different subgenera of the genus Myotis.
Highlights
This paper presents the results of an analysis of about four hundred skulls of Myotis mystacinus and M. brandtii of the Holocene age from the Záskočie Cave (Central Slovakia)
A reliable specific identification of the skulls was a first problem. This matter requires detailed analysis and evaluation of a large portion of the material. Because of this I will deal with species determination first
Dimensions. — Formerly, only the skull dimensions were used as a criterion for the separation of the two forms, using the condylobasal length: specimens with a condylobasal length over 13.4 mm had been considered as brandtii and under 13.3 mm as mystacinus
Summary
This paper presents the results of an analysis of about four hundred skulls of Myotis mystacinus and M. brandtii of the Holocene age from the Záskočie Cave (Central Slovakia). — Formerly, only the skull dimensions were used as a criterion for the separation of the two forms, using the condylobasal length: specimens with a condylobasal length over 13.4 mm had been considered as brandtii and under 13.3 mm as mystacinus (cf Hanak, 1965). The secondary cone on the inner margin of P 4 (according to some authors a reliable determining criterion; cf Topal, 1963; Gauckler & Kraus, 1970; Hanak, 1970, 1971a) is relevant only to the determination of some M. brandtii; in some samples of the population it is inconspicuous while a portion of M. mystacinus has a relatively pronounced cone.
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