Factors of Polymorphism of Craniometric Characters in the Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes, Carnivora, Canidae) from the Center of European Russia


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Abstract

Craniometry was investigated in four samples of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes L. 1758) (n = 403) from Tver oblast. Factors affecting the metric polymorphism of the fox skull can be presented in the following order according to their significance: age, sex, geographic, and chronographic variability. The geographic and chronographic factors are correlated with the jaws and teeth. An analysis of the time interval from the early 1990s to the present shows a weak trend toward an increase in some cranial structures. However, the inclusion of material from the 1980s reveals a more complex trend in the chronographic variability with size fluctuations. This may be due to the high rate of mortality which determines the stochastic nature of the chronographic size variability. The spatial variability of odontological and craniometric characters can be of adaptive functional significance.

About the authors

N. P. Korablev

Velikie Luki State Agricultural Academy

Author for correspondence.
Email: cranlab@gmail.com
Russian Federation, Velikie Luki, Pskov oblast, 182112

M. P. Korablev

Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences; Central Forest State Nature Biosphere Reserve

Email: cranlab@gmail.com
Russian Federation, Moscow, 119991; Zapovednyi, Tver oblast, 172513

A. P. Korablev

Botanical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: cranlab@gmail.com
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg, 197022

P. N. Korablev

Central Forest State Nature Biosphere Reserve

Email: cranlab@gmail.com
Russian Federation, Zapovednyi, Tver oblast, 172513

A. V. Zinoviev

Tver State University

Email: cranlab@gmail.com
Russian Federation, Tver, 170100

V. A. Zhagarayte

Velikie Luki State Agricultural Academy

Email: cranlab@gmail.com
Russian Federation, Velikie Luki, Pskov oblast, 182112

I. L. Tumanov

Zhitkov All-Russia Research Institute of Game Management and Animal Breeding, Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: cranlab@gmail.com
Russian Federation, Kirov, 610000


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