Abstract
The large-eared field mouse (Apodemus latronum Thomas, 1911), a common rodent, mainly inhabits southwestern China. Since its first description nearly a century ago, there have been numerous taxonomical and morphological arguments as to its validity, but relatively little work was done on mapping out the geographic variations observed in samples of the species. In this study, we used 142 specimens of A. latronum from Xizang, Sichuan, and Yunnan to conduct a multivariate analysis, coefficient of difference (CD) analysis of cranial measurements, and a comparison of some pelage characteristics. The results of the analysis on 15 measurable cranial characters indicated that the specimens from Lijiang, Weixi, and Binchuan areas of the Yunnan province are apparently different from all the other specimens of A. latronum described so far and are allopatrically distributed. These samples form the core of our new description for A. latronum lijiangensis subsp. nov. as a new subspecies, and a detailed discussion on the relationships between the differentiation of A. latronum and its evolvement in southwestern China is provided.
Highlights
The large-eared field mouse (Apodemus latronum Thomas, 1911), a common rodent, mainly inhabits southwestern China
15 cranial measurements were taken with a digital caliper at the greatest possible accuracy (0.01 mm) as follows: greatest length of skull (GLS), condylobasal length (CBL), basal length (BL), occipitonasal length (ONL), palatal length (PL), diastema length (DL), upper tooth row (UTR), breadth across molars (BAM), breadth of zygomatic plate (BZP), breadth of occipital condyles (BOO), zygomatic width (ZW), interorbital breadth (IB), breadth of braincase (BB), length of lower diastema (LLD), and lower tooth row (LTR) (Figure 1)
Sexual dimorphism and principal component analyses Of the 142 total samples that were used for cranial measurements, 138 contained sexual information on their labels, with 64 male specimens and 74 female specimens
Summary
The large-eared field mouse (Apodemus latronum Thomas, 1911), a common rodent, mainly inhabits southwestern China. We used 142 specimens of A. latronum from Xizang, Sichuan, and Yunnan to conduct a multivariate analysis, coefficient of difference (CD) analysis of cranial measurements, and a comparison of some pelage characteristics. The large-eared field mouse (Apodemus latronum Thomas, 1911) mainly inhabits southwestern China, including both Sichuan and Yunnan provinces as well as southeastern Tibet and northern Burma (Corbet and Hill 1992; Musser and Carleton 2005). Though, there have been no further follow-up morphological studies conducted to obtain a more well-rounded view of this species, especially in regard to measureable cranial variables or comparisons of pelage characteristics as it pertains to the geographic variation of A. latronum. We discussed the relationships between the differentiation of A. latronum and its environment in southwestern China
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