Zoological Studies

Morphological Comparison of Ryukyu Mouse Mus caroli (Rodentia: Muridae) Populations from Okinawajima and Taiwan

Masaharu Motokawa, Liang-Kong Lin and Junko Motokawa (2003) We performed univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses of 4 external and 17 cranial morphometric characters in the Ryukyu mouse, Mus caroli Bonhote, 1902 (Mammalia: Rodentia: Muridae), using 177 specimens collected from Okinawajima in the central Ryukyus and from Taiwan. There were clear morphological differences between populations from Okinawajima and Taiwan. The univariate and bivariate analyses indicated that the Okinawajima population differs from the Taiwan population by a shorter tail, smaller ear and auditory bulla, less robust incisors, larger molar row, narrower cranium in the orbital region, and longer postpalatal region. Principal component and canonical discriminant analyses based on cranial variables also suggested morphological divergence between the 2 populations.