Variation within and among Populations of the Short-Tailed Shrew in Connecticut

Abstract

Analyses of craniometric variance within a population of short-tailed shrews, Blarina brevicauda , in Connecticut revealed almost no secondary sexual variation or variation resulting from age and only moderate individual variation. Analyses of geographic variation demonstrated significant differences in cranial size between samples from the western and eastern extremes of Connecticut, but only a slight step in the cline was found in intervening areas. The possibility that the step denotes a zone of secondary intergradation was considered, but available data were judged inconclusive.