Morphological and Morphometric Characteristics of Brown Rat (Rattus Norvegicus) in Tehran and Mashhad

Document Type : Morphology

Authors

Department of Environment, Faculty of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

Abstract

 The purpose of this study was to investigate the morphological and morphometric characteristics of brown rats in Tehran and Mashhad. To investigate these characteristics, 75 brown rats from Tehran and Mashhad were rehabilitated using trapping and compared based on morphological and morphometric studies and the characteristics of each index were identified. The results of this research showed that the dorsal and ventral colors of Mashhad rats were brighter than Tehran rats. Also, the ratio of body length to ear length of males was higher in population of Mashhad rats. However, the ratio of body length to ear length of females was higher in population of Tehran rats. Univariate analysis of variance showed that among 49 measured cranial morphometric traits, maxillary frontal width, terminal skull length, upper first premolar width, lower second premolar length, had good differentiation power for the two populations of Tehran and Mashhad and the other traits had a weak differentiation power. Also, most of the differentiation powers were related to the second premolar tooth length. No differences were observed between the five populations for the five morphometric traits. There was also a gender bias between males and females.

Keywords

References

  1.  Abiadh, A.; Capanna, E.; Chetoui, M.; Colaneo, P. and Lamine-cheniti, T., 2010. Morphometric analysis of six Gerbillus species (Rodentia, Gerbilinae) from Tunisia. J Comptes Rendus Biologies. Vol. 333, No.9, pp: 680-687.
  2. Alhajeri, H., 2018. Cranial variation in geographically widespread dwarf gerbil Gerbillus nanus populations: Isolation by distance versus adaptation to local environments. Zool Syst Evol Res. Vol. 57, pp: 191-203.
  3. Alhajeri, H. 2018. Craniomandibular Variation in the Taxonomically Problematic Gerbil Genus Gerbillus: Assessing the Influence of Climate, Geography, Phylogeny, and Size. J of Mammalian Evolution. Vol. 25, pp: 261-267.
  4. Ashrafzadeh, M.R.; Madjedzadeh, S.M.; Azarpira, M. and Shahi, T., 2019. Ntraspecific variation within Meriones persicus populations in the south central of Iran. Journal of Wildlife and Biodiversity. Vol. 3, No. 1, pp: 40-51. 
  5. Bouarakia, O.; Denys, Ch.; Nicola, V.; Benazzou, T. and Benhoussa, A., 2019. Biogeographic history of Gerbillus campestris in Moroccoas revealed by morphometric and genetic data. Bonn zoological bul. Vol. 68, No. 1, pp: 97-124.  
  6. Guerrero, J.A.; Vallejo, R.M. and Cózatl, F., 2017. Patterns of Differentiation and Disparity in Cranial Morphology in Rodent, Species of the genus Megadontomys. Zoological Studies. Vol. 56, No. 14, pp: 1-15. 
  7. Odige, E.A.; Aighewi, I.T.; Asemota, O.; Asemota, O.D.; Ekeolu, O.K.; Fagboya, T.N.F.; Ighedosa, S.U.E.A.; Olugasa, B.O.; Usifoh, S.F. and Uwagie, E.A., 2017.Comparative non-metric and morphometric analyses of rats at residential halls of the university of Benin campus, Nigeria. Journal of Infection and Public Health. Vol. 11, pp: 412-417. 
  8. Wilson, E. and Reeder, D., 2005. Mammals of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reffrences.Second Edition. Simithsonian Institution Press. Washingtonn and London.  
  9. Younes, M.I.; Khalifa, M.A. and Ghazy, A., 2016. Morphometric Analysis of Gerbillus andersoni and G. amoenus from Egypt. Al-Azhar Journal of Science. Vol. 27, No. 1, pp: 9-16.
Journal of Animal Environment
Volume 12, Issue 4
December 2020
Pages 171-178

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics