Page 1 - CrociduraWagler_Sara

Boll. Zool. 57: 283-293 (1990)
Insular variation in central
Mediterranean Crocidura Wagler, 1832 The taxonomy of the genus Crocidura in continental
(Mammalia, Soricidae)
MAURIZIO SARA
MARIO LO VALVO
LAURA ZANCA
Istituto di Zoologia, Università di Palermo,
via Archirafi, 18 - I-90123 Palermo (Italy)
Downloaded by [183.219.240.165] at 10:10 22 March 2014
ABSTRACT
Morphometric variation of Crocidura mandible in Sicily and sur-
rounding islands (Egadi archipelago, Ustica, Pantelleria and Gozo)
was analyzed by principal component and canonical variate ana-
lyses in order to integrate recent chromosomal and biochemical was found on Pantelleria. A few specimens were also
observations. Specimens of C. suaveolens and C. leucodon from main- found on the Egadi islands and on Ustica. It was also
land 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 and Lampedusa was unknown until that period and
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 1988; Vogel et al., 1989) together with the presence of
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 indepen-
dent 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 insuf-
ficient to perform a multivariate analysis, allowing only a rough
morphological study. This taxon was also preliminarily related to
C. cf. sicula.
KEY WORDS: Crocidura; Insular variation; Multivariate analysis. rived from Strigiformes pellets, found in the Italian mainland,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank Prof. B. Massa and Prof. P. Vogel for
improving a draft of this paper with their suggestions and Dr.
Burgio who permitted us to study the specimens from Lampedusa.
We are also indebted to A. Torre and I. Fais, who provided speci-
mens from Sardinia, to G. Aloise, M. Cagnin, and P. Galeotti for
specimens from Italy and to J. Borg for those from Gozo.
(Accepted 15June 1990)
INTRODUCTION
and Mediterranean insular populations has long been a
controversial matter. However, the recent development
of karyological and biochemical techniques has con-
firmed the specific status of the shrews living on Corsi-
ca (Catalan & Poitevin, 1981), Sardinia (Catzeflis,
1983a), Cyprus (Catzeflis, 1983b), Minorca and Ibiza
(Poitevin et al., 1986) and Crete (Vogel et al., 1986).
The taxonomy of Sicilian shrews was also quite con-
fused and both the number of species living in this
Mediterranean island and their taxonomic status were
matters of discussion (see Vogel, 1988, and Contoli et
al., 1989, for a review). Uncertain was also the taxo-
nomy of shrews on Malta and Gozo (Schembri &
Schembri, 1979) and Pantelleria. Description of the
species on this latter island relies on a single specimen
similar to C. cf. russula (Contoli & Amori, 1986). Con-
cerning the taxon living on the Egadi archipelago,
authors have generally agreed on the presence of C.
suaveolens (Krapp, 1969; Vesmanis, 1976).
During a survey (1987-88) of the trophic niche of
Tjto alba a large sample of Crocidura bony fragments
possible, moreover, to examine some mandible frag-
ments (coming from a Holocene layer) recently found
on Lampedusa. The presence of the taxon on Ustica
not yet published.
The result of the chromosomal analysis recently car-
ried out on specimens from Sicily and Malta (Vogel,
a conspicuous osteological sample induced us to carry
out a taxonomical revision of this material.
This report describes the geographical variation
shown by the populations of the central Mediterranean
islands and is based on a biometrical multivariate anal-
ysis of the mandible.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
In order to investigate the biometry of the genus Crocidura, part
of the theriological collection of the Zoological Museum of the
University (MZPA, Palermo - Italy) was used. Included in the
collection are more than 500 specimens of Crocidura, mostly de-
North Africa, and Mediterranean islands such as Sicily, Sardinia,
Pantelleria, the Egadi arcipelago (Levanzo, Marettimo, Favignana),
Ustica and Gozo (Malta). The specimens were graphically com-
pared and measured following the current diagnosis of characters
generally used in biometrical analysis of the genus Crocidura (Tos-
chi & Lanza, 1959; Krapp, 1969; Chaline et al., 1974; Jenkins,
1976; Saint Girons et al., 1979; Vesmanis & Vesmanis, 1982;
Poitevin et al., 1986; Hutterer, 1986).
Based on the morphological features, the material from mainland
Italy was assigned to C. suaveolens and C. leucodon, whereas the
Sardinian shrews were known to be an insular population of C.
russula (Catzeflis, 1983a; Contoli et al., 1989). These three species