Age Variations in Microtus guentheri Danford and Alston, 1880 (Mammalia: Rodentia) in Turkey

Authors: MUSTAFA SÖZEN, ERCÜMENT ÇOLAK, NURİ YİĞİT, ŞAKİR ÖZKURT

Abstract: The skull, teeth, phallus and bacula of Microtus guentheri specimens raised in the laboratory were investigated at different stages of postnatal development. The most of the cranial measurements attained those of adults on day 60. There were determined to be some morphological differences between the skulls of young and adult voles. The incisors and the molars began to erupt at 3 and 6 days, respectively. It was shown that there was no difference in respect to the phallic and bacular morphology between young and adults except for size. The proximal bacula became larger during the period between juvenile life and adulthood. Findings showed that the morphological peculiarities of skull, teeth, phallus and baculum during postnatal development may be also useful in determining the age of the sepicimens.

Keywords: Microtus guentheri, age variations, phallus, baculum, cranium

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