[Fluctuating asymmetry of craniometric characters in rodents (Mammalia: Rodentia): interspecific and interpopulational comparisons].
Ontogenetic instability was studied in four rodent species (Ellobius talpinus, Microtus arvalis, M. rossiaemeridionalis, Mus musculus). It was measured by fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of 21 craniometric characters. Each species was represented by two populations differing in average level of chromosomic instability and in degree of anthropogenic influence. Relation between FA and individual age was observed in none of the studied species. The level of cranial structure FA in rodents is probably formed during embryogeny or early postnatal ontogeny and is not changing significantly during the further development. The studied species showed distinct differences in the degree of ontogenetic instability of the axial skull, but not of the mandible. No connection was found between craniometric character FA and technogenic stress. The differences of cranial FA level among the studied species of rodents agree with their systematic position and the sequence of their evolutionary divergence.
Gileva
E A
EA
Ialkovskaia
L E
LE
Borodin
A V
AV
Zykov
S V
SV
Kshniasev
I A
IA
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D043171:Chromosomal Instability; D009115:Muridae / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D013045:Species Specificity