IVth International Conference on Dormice (Rodentia, Gliridae)13 - 16 September 1999 EDÝRNE - TURKEY |
NON-METRICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND DIVERSITY OF FAT DORMOUSE (GLIS GLIS L.) IN BULGARIA
Markov, G.
Institute of Zoology, 1 Tzar Osvoboditel, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria, e-mail: Geomar@bgcict.acad.bg
Variability of non-metric traits was studied on skulls of 105 individuals of Fet dormouse from 6 Bulgarian populations. Four of them are located in the mountain system of Stara planina ? West Fore-Balkan, West Stara planina, Central Balkan and East Stara planina. The remaining two populations originate from Vitosha and Rila mountains. The analysis of epigenetic variability of the 6 group of Glis glis L. based on 12 epigenetic characters revealed that it is similar in the studied populations and varies from Vi = 0.1390 in the population from East Stara planina to Vi = 0.105 in the Central Balkan population. The occurrence of the frequencies of the studied non-metric characters was used to determine the mean measure of divergence between the samples compared and to draw a diagram illustrating their mutual geographical epigenetic relations. The only statistically significant ones among all the studied epigenetic distances were these between the population of West Fore Balkan and populations from Vitosha, West Stara planina and East Stara planina. The former one exhibits the highest epigenetic uniqueness. The lack of clearly outlined epigenetic differentiation between the Fet dormouse populations in Bulgaria showed, that the occurrence of non-metric variant cannot serve as an unequivocal basis for the inclusion of a particular individual to a concrete geographic population. Nevertheless, the frequencies of occurrence of non-metric variants in population samples may provide information on directional tendency of the epigenetic population structure of the species in its main habitats in the Stara planina mountain system, where the populations inhabit biotopes with different ecological conditions and express the microgeographic epigenetic fragmentation of the Fat dormouse in Bulgaria.