Baláž Ivan, Tulis Filip, Ševčík Michal
Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Trieda A. Hlinku 1, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia.
Animals (Basel). 2021 Feb 23;11(2):576. doi: 10.3390/ani11020576.
The Pannonian root vole ssp. represents a rare glacial relict, whose occurrence is nowadays bound to several areas in Europe. Four somatic and 25 craniological features were analysed, based on 355 measured specimens. Sex is a significant factor affecting the average value of all four somatic features, where all of them achieve higher values in males than in females. While body length and tail length were also affected by seasons, body weight and the length of the hind foot were stable features present across the seasons. In cranial features, the largest variability in the adult population is characterised by neurocranium breadth (LaN), total length of the cranial base (LB), and skull (LCr); whereas the smallest variability of the cranial dimensions is reflected in the values of the greatest palatal breadth (PS) and postorbital breadth (Io). Calculating the weight from cranial remains may be used to estimate the size of the prey and to determine vole biomass consumed by predators, such as raptors, highlighting the utility of studying feeding ecology.
潘诺尼亚根田鼠亚种是一种罕见的冰川遗迹物种，如今其分布局限于欧洲的几个地区。基于355个测量标本，对四个躯体特征和25个颅骨特征进行了分析。性别是影响所有四个躯体特征平均值的一个重要因素，所有这些特征在雄性中的值都高于雌性。虽然体长和尾长也受季节影响，但体重和后足长度是全年稳定的特征。在颅骨特征方面，成年群体中最大的变异性表现为神经颅骨宽度（LaN）、颅底总长度（LB）和头骨（LCr）；而颅骨尺寸最小的变异性则体现在最大腭宽（PS）和眶后宽（Io）的值上。根据颅骨残骸计算体重可用于估计猎物大小，并确定猛禽等捕食者消耗的田鼠生物量，这凸显了研究觅食生态学的实用性。
