Insular variation in central mediterranean crocidura wagler, 1832 (Mammalia, soricidae)

Abstract

Morphometric variation of Crocidura mandible in Sicily and surrounding islands (Egadi archipelago, Ustica, Pantelleria and Gozo) was analyzed by principal component and canonical variate analyses in order to integrate recent chromosomal and biochemical observations. Specimens of C. suaveolens and C. leucodon from mainland Italy and of C. russula from Sardinia were used as reference in this analysis. The biometry of the only taxon of shrews living in Sicily is significantly different from the three reference samples. This result, coupled with a recently discovered new karyotype, provides strong evidence for a new Eurasian species, for which the name C. sicula Miller 1901, was chosen. Crocidura species living in the Egadi archipelago (Levanzo, Ma- rettimo and Favignana), and on Ustica and Gozo, are biometrically grouped together. They also differ significantly from the Sicilian species and from the reference samples. However, the Gozo and Sicilian specimens share the same karyotype and both populations are biochemically very similar. The status of these taxa should be provisionally related to C. cf. sicula. The independent divergence of insular populations is one of the recorded patterns of geographic variation and could explain these findings. As regards the independent taxon from Pantelleria, there is evidence of the presence on the island of a C. cf. russula, probably coming from North Africa. The pattern of other vertebrate and invertebrate colonization of this island is, in fact, influenced by the African continent. The presence of Crocidura on Ustica and Lampedusa was not known until now. The mandible fragments found in Lampedusa are insufficient to perform a multivariate analysis, allowing only a rough morphological study. This taxon was also preliminarily related to C. cf. sicula. © 1990 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.