Geometric morphometric analyses of four species of brush-tailed mice, genus Calomyscus (Rodentia: Calomyscidae), from the Iranian Plateau

The brush-tailed mice of the genus Calomyscus are distributed in the mountains of central Asia and the Middle East. The genus Calomyscus represents five nominate species from Iran (C. bailwardi, C. grandis, C. hotsoni, C. urartensis and C. elburzensis). In total 64 specimens from four species of Calomyscus were studied for morphometric analyses The morphological differences among 10 populations of the genus Calomyscus were investigated using landmark-based geometric morphometrics of the left mandible and Fourier analysis of the first lower molar. The results suggested that four Iranian Calomyscus species, C. bailwardi, C. grandis, C. hotsoni, and C. elburzensis can be discriminated with a high probability based on their mandible and first lower molar shapes. Calomyscus grandis, however, was the most distinct species from others.

Keywords:

Calomyscus , Geometric morphometric , Mandible , Molar