MORPHOLOGICAL-DIFFERENTIATION IN MUS SPICILEGUS AND THE TAXONOMIC STATUS OF MOUND-BUILDING MICE FROM THE ADRIATIC COAST OF YUGOSLAVIA

The systematic status of a mound-building mouse population from the Ad riatic coast at Ulcinj, Montenegro (Yugoslavia), originally reported a s M. hortulanus ssp., is assessed using morphological and morphometric analyses. This population was compared to other M. spicilegus samples from Ukraine & Moldavia, Voivodina (Yugoslavia) and Austria, and to M . macedonicus from Turkey, Greece, and Macedonia. Character states of selected non-metric traits, along with the presence of a typical mound -building behaviour, allowed classification of the study population wi th M. spicilegus. This was also supported by Canonical Variate Analysi s on size-adjusted dental traits. Uni- and multivariate morphometric s tudies revealed marked differentiation between the Ulcinj sample and t he remaining M. spicilegus populations. The great deal of morphologica l divergence suggests a distinct systematic position of the Adriatic p opulation, here described as Mus spicilegus adriaticus ssp. nova. Hypo theses about the possible origin and evolutionary history of the two e astern aboriginal mouse species are discussed.