CRANIOMETRIC VARIABILITY OF THE COMMON SHREW (SOREXARANEUS, EULIPOTYPHLA) IN THE NORTHEASTERN PARTOF EUROPEAN RUSSIA: EFFECTS OF VARIOUS FACTORS
The craniometric variability of Сommon shrews was studied using 613 skulls of young (first summer of life) individuals from ten localities in the northeastern part of European Russia, i.e. Komi Republic and Nenets Autonomus District. We compared 16 skull characters, with an expected impact of various factors on cranial variability being discussed. We found significant interpopulation variability in skull size. The morphological distances (measured as Mahalanobis distances) between samples within a race were often greater than those between samples of different races. Several skull traits were found specific to some races. Both latitude and elevation were shown to significantly affect the interpopulation variability. Size decrease in skulls was revealed towards the north, vs. an increase with altitude. Estimating the contribution of a certain factor was complicated by a joint effect of various factors in various combinations.