TurkJZool 27(2003)55-60 ©TÜB‹TAK ResearchArticle AStudyonMicromysminitus (Pallas,1771)(Mammalia:Rodentia)in TurkishThrace BeytullahÖZKAN DepartmentofBiology,FacultyofScienceandArt,TrakyaUniversity,Edirne-TURKEY NuriY‹⁄‹T,ErcümentÇOLAK DepartmentofBiology,FacultyofScience,AnkaraUniversity,Ankara-TURKEY Received:11.12.2001 Abstract: Micromysminutus wasrecordedfromsixlocalitiesinTurkishThrace.Theexternal,cranialandkaryologicalpeculiarities ofthespecimensweredetermined.Thedorsalcolourofthespecimensisdarkbrownish,beinglighteronthesides,buttherostrum andcheekaremarkedlyochre.Meantaillengthrelativetobodylengthis90.5%,andtheoccipito-nasallengthis18.1mm.The diploidnumberofchromosomeswas2n=68withNF=136andNFa=132. KeyWords: Micromysminutus,distribution,taxonomy,karyology,Thrace,Turkey. Türkiye’ninTrakyaBölgesindeYay›l›flGösteren Micromysminitus (Pallas,1771) (Mammalia:Rodentia)ÜzerineBirÇal›flma Özet: Micromysminutus Trakya’daalt›lokalitedenkaydedildi.Örneklerineksternal,kranialvekaryolojiközellikleribelirlendi.Buna göre,incelenenörneklerinrengiburunucundaaç›ksar›,s›rtaiseyanlarado¤rudahaaç›kolmaküzerekoyukahverengi,kuyru¤unun bafl-bedenuzunlu¤unaoran›ortalama90.5,occipitonasaluzunlukiseortalama18.1mm’dir.Diploidkromozomsay›s›2n=68,NF =136,NFa=132bulunmufltur. AnahtarSözcükler: Micromysminutus,yay›l›fl,taksonomi,karyoloji,Trakya,Türkiye. Introduction MaterialsandMethods Micromys isamonospecificgenusdistributed Tenspecimenswerecaughtfromsixlocalitiesin predominantlyinthePalaearcticandmarginallyinthe TurkishThrace(Fig.1),andexaminedwithrespectto Orientalregion(1-4).Theharvestmouse Micromys morphologicalandkaryologicalcharacteristics.External minutus (Pallas,1771)wasfirstreportedinTurkish andcranialmeasurements(mm)alongwithweight(g) ThracebyKurtonur(5).WilsonandReeder(3)listed29 weretakenaccordingtoHarrisonandBates(22).All populationsassynonymsintherangingareas.Mitchell- specimenswereskinnedinthestandardmuseummanner Jonesetal.(4)reported16subspeciesinEurope. anddepositedattheDepartmentofBiology,Trakya NiethammerandKrapp(6)includedTurkishThraceto University.Theskullandbaculumweredrawnundera therangeofMicromysminutus brauneri Martino,1930. binocularmicroscope.Twomaleswerekaryotyped Taxonomicstudiesontheharvestmousehavebeen followingthecolchicinehypotoniccitratetechniqueof performedbyvariousresearchers(7-12).Apartfrom FordandHamerton(23).Between10and20slideswere these,manykaryologicstudieshavebeenreportedby preparedforeachspecimen,andatleast30well-spread Král(13,14),LehmanandSchafer(15),Tsuchia(16), metaphaseplateswereanalysed.Thediploidnumberof Bekasova(17),DzujevandTembotova(18),Jüdes(19), chromosomes(2n),thetotalnumberofchromosomal Sollederetal.(20)andZima(21).Todate,thereisno arms(NF)andthenumberofautosomalarms(NFa)were karyologicaldataontheTurkishpopulationofthis determined. species.Thisstudyaimstocontributetothekaryology Abbreviationsusedinthetext:TBL:Totalbody anddistributionoftheharvestmouseinTurkishThrace. length,HBL:Headandbodylength,TL:Taillength,HFL: 55 AStudyonMicromysminitus (Pallas,1771)(Mammalia:Rodentia)inTurkishThrace Hindfootlength,EL:Earlength,W:Weight,ZB: taillengthtobodylength(TLx100/HBL)variedfrom Zygomaticbreadth,IC:Interorbitalconstriction,CBL: 82to98%(Table).Ourmeasurementsaresimilarto Condylobasallength,ONL:Occipitonasallength,BL:Basal thosereportedbyNiethammerandKrapp(6).According length,NL:Nasallength,MAB:Mastoidbreadth,OW: toMarkov(24,25)andVidinic(26),taillengthranged Occipitalwidth,DL:Diastemalength,PL:Palatallength, from47to72mm,HBLfrom47to66.9mm,HFLfrom IFL:Incisivaforaminalength,MAL:Mandiblelength,UML: 14to15.3mm,ELfrom7.5to10mm,CBLmmfrom Uppermolaralveolarlength,andLML:Lowermolar 14.8to18.6mm,ZBfrom8.8to10.2mmandWfrom alveolarlength. 5.6gto8.8ginspecimensfromtheformerYugoslavia andBulgaria.Theserangescoveredthemeansofthe Turkishspecimens.ThedorsalfurofTurkishspecimens ResultsandDiscussion isdarkbrownish,beinglighteronthesides.Unlikedorsal DistributionandHabitat:Wecaught M.minitus insix colour,therostrumandcheekaremarkedlyochre.The localitiesaroundEdirne,K›rklareliand‹stanbul(Fig.1). earsareshort,andcoveredwithshort,sparseandpale Previously,Kurtonur(5)recordedthisanimalfromLake brownishhairs.Thetailismarkedlybicolouredbeing Küçükçekmecenear‹stanbul.Theharvestmouseprefers darkbrownishabove,andpaleyellowishordirtywhite meadows,marshesandreedbedsinthelakeand below.Thesefindingsareconsistentwiththoseof riversides.ThehabitatoftheTurkishpopulationis NiethammerandKrapp(6).Boththeuppersidesofthe consistentwiththeconditionelsewhereintheEuropean foreandhindfeetarepalebrownish,butthesolesare population(4). completelynaked.Thehairsontheventralfurarepale Externalcharacteristics:Theharvestmousehas yellowishorwhitish,buttheirbasesaregreyish.Theline almostthesamebodysizeasthatofthehousemouse ofdemarcationalongtheflanksisfairlydistinct. (Musmusculus).Inourmaterial,themaximumTBLand Cranialcharacteristics:Theskullisrelativelyslender, TLwere135mmand65mm,respectively.Taillengthis therostrumandnasalbonesaremarkedlyshort.The slightlylessthanheadandbodylength,andtheratioof nasalbonesextendbeyondtheincisors.Thebraincaseis 27 29 Figure1. Localitiesof Micromys minitus inTurkishThrace(l); 1.Karacaköy/‹stanbul,2. Babaeski/K›rklareli,3. Havsa/Edirne,4.Tayakad›n /Edirne,5.Güllapo¤lu/ 6 Edirne,6.De¤irmenyeni/ 5 Edirne,and ■ Küçükçekmece/‹stanbul 4 3 2 (afterKurtonur,1975). 1 41 41 050km 27 29 56 B.ÖZKAN,N. Y‹⁄‹T,E.ÇOLAK Table. Externalandcranialcharactermeasurements(inmm)of pointoftheskull,anditsmedianpartprotrudes eightadult Micromysminitus fromTurkishThrace,(SD: backwards.Theposteriortipoftheoccipitalcondylesand Standarddeviation). theouterrimofthemeatusarenotseeninthedorsal Characteristics Mean Range SD viewoftheskull.Thediestamaisshort,andtheincisiva 1 TBL 127.1 109-135±7.7 foraminareachingthelevelofM isalmostaslongasthe HBL 66.8 56-70 ±4.4 diestema.Thepostpalatalincisivaissmallsplit-shaped. TL 60.3 53-65±4.3 Thetipofpterygoidprocessisalmostincontactwiththe TLx100/HBL(%) 90.5 82-98 ±5.6 HFL 14.9 13-16±0.9 anteriorpartoftympanicbullae.Thesecranial EL 9.3 8-11±0.8 peculiaritiesareconsistentwiththedrawingof W(g) 9.9 7-14 ±2.5 NiethammerandKrapp(6),exceptfortheV-shaped ZB 9.3 9.0-9.4 ±0.1 IC 3.5 3.4-3.7±0.1 posteriormarginofthepalatine(Fig.2).Thetympanic CBL 16.9 16.5-17.5±0.5 bullaearenotswollenventrally,beingmoderateinsize. ONL 18.1 17.7-18.4±0.2 Thecuspsofmolarteethwerefoundtobesimilartothe BL 15.9 15.3-16.1±0.3 NL 5.3 3.5-6.6±1.0 findingsofNiethammerandKrapp(6).Themandibleis MAB 6.0 5.8-6.1 ±0.1 ofmoderatesize,anditscoronoid,condyloidandangular OW 9.4 9.0-9.6±0.2 processesaremarkedlyseparatedfromeachother. DL 4.0 3.5-4.2 ±0.2 PL 7.2 6.9-7.5 ±0.2 Phallusandbaculum:Phalluswithsmallspinesis IFL 3.5 3.4-3.7±1.9 MAL 9.7 9.1-10.0±0.3 stick-shaped.Thereisamarkedprotrusiononitsanterior UML 2.9 2.8-3.0±0.03 tip(Figs.3a,b).Thebaculumiscomposedofthedistal LML 2.8 2.7-2.9 ±0.05 andproximalparts.Thedistalonehasasingle cartilageouspart.Theproximalpartconsistsoftheshaft elongatedandbroadened.Therearenoridgesatthe andthebase.Theshaftandthebasearestick-andspoon- marginsoffrontal,parietalorinterparietalbones.The shaped,respectively.Thereisashallowconcavityonthe zygomaticarchesareslender,andslightlyexpanded.The ventralsideofthebase(Figs.4a,b,c). squamosalpartofthezygomaticarchisnotconnectedto Karyology:Thedipliodnumberofchromosomesis2n theanteriormarginoftheauditorymeatus.The =68.Autosomesconsistofonepairoflargeandthree supraoccipalboneformsthemostposteriorlyprojecting Figure2. Dorsal(a)andventralview(b)of Micromys minitus skull,thearrow indicatestheV-shapedposterior marginofthepalatine. 0.5cm ab 57 AStudyonMicromysminitus (Pallas,1771)(Mammalia:Rodentia)inTurkishThrace 0.5mm 0.1mm a b Figure3. PhallusofMicromys minitus (a:dorsal,b:lateralview). a b c pairsofsmallmetacentrics,andof29pairsof Figure4. Baculum of Micromys minitus (a:dorsal,b:ventral,c: lateralview) subtelocentricortelocentricchromosomes.TheXandY chromosomesarelargetelocentricandsmalltelocentric, knowndescriptionsofthechromosomecomplement(17- respectively.TheNFandNFaare132and136, 21,27).Inadditiontotheconventionalkaryotype, respectively(Fig.5).ZimaandKral(27)reportedthat Bekasova(17),Jüdes(19),Solleder(20)andZima(21) thekaryotypeconsistsofonelargemetacentricpairand publishedtheG-andC-bandingpatternsoftheharvest 2-4pairsofsmallmetacentricsandsubmetacentrics mouse.Accordingtotheirresults,therearedark chromosomesand28-30pairsofacrocentricsor centromericC-bandsonallchromosomes,andmostlyon subtelocentricsones.Ourfindingsonthekaryotypesof theeuchromaticregionsintheshortarmsofbiarmed Turkishspecimensareconsistentwiththehitherto autosomalchromosomes.Allthesefindingssuggestthat Figure5. Karyotype of Micromys minitus (male),2n=68,NF=136,NFa= 132. XY 58 B.ÖZKAN,N. Y‹⁄‹T,E.ÇOLAK thereisnovariationinthediploidnumberof geographicallyclosersubspeciestoTurkishThrace. chromosomes.Chromosomalvariationsrarelyoccurin NeitherofthesetwosubspecieswasdescribedinSerbia theNFandNFa. andBosnia.HoweverMiric(28)showedthatM .m. Taxonomicremarks:Thegeographicvariationof mehelyi isasynonymof Musmusculus.Niethammerand Micromysminitus hasbeenrecordedaswellasthetotal Krapp(6)andOndrias(9)statedthat M.m.brauneri is bodylength,relativetaillengthanddorsalcolouration distributedinGreece.Whenconsideringthegeographical (10,11).NiethammerandKrapp(6)consideredthese proximity,theTurkishpopulationof M.minitus canbe criteriaasseasonalandecotypicvariations.Theyalso includedinthesubspeciesbrauneri. reportedthatrelativetaillengthisnotareliable characteristicinsubspecificidentification.Of16 Acknowledgements subspeciesdescribedinEurope(4),M.m.mehelyi