KARYOLOGICAL AND ALLOZYME SURVEY OF THE COMMON SHREW, SOREX-ARANEUS, FROM MACEDONIA

Karyotype and genetic variation of the common shrew (Sorex araneus) fr om Mt. Pelister in southern Macedonia has been studied. Whereas all au tosomes in the chromosomal set (2 n(a) = 28, the only present metacent rics being af, bc, jl, and tu) were of the standard type as well as th e sex chromosomes X and Y2 in males, the Y1 chromosome was a small met acentric. This chromosomal feature is unique among the common shrew po pulations studied cytogenetically so far. Three out of 33 loci analyse d (Sdh, 6Pgd, Mdh-1) were discriminant between the Mt. Pelister popula tion and Sorex araneus from Slovenia and two loci (Est-3, Ada) were pa rtially discriminant. A relatively high value of NEI's genetic distanc e (D = 0.137) confirms unique character of the Pelister population.