KARYOTYPIC VARIATION OF THE COMMON SHREW (SOREX-ARANEUS) IN EUROPEAN RUSSIA - PRELIMINARY-RESULTS

Despite the fact that the common shrew occurs abundantly throughout Eu ropean Russia, almost nothing is known about the karyotypic variation of the species in this important part of its geographic range. We pres ent G-band karyotypic data on seven samples from well separated sites. The race first described by ANISKIN and LUKIANOVA (1989) from one sit e near Moscow was confirmed. This 'Moscow' race (XX/XY1Y2, af, bc, gm, hi, j/l, kr, no, pq, tu) has a very extensive distribution in Europea n Russia (over a longitudinal and latitudinal range of 34-45 degrees E and 51-58 degrees N, respectively). The fully metacentric (2na = 18) complement appears to be the norm for this race, although polymorphism for arm combination jl was detected at one site. It was also confirme d that the 'Goldap race' of NE Poland extends into the adjoining Russi an territory of the Kaliningrad (Koenigsberg) region. A tentative new race (the 'Mologa': XX/XY1Y2, af, bc, gm, hn, i/o, jl, kr, p/q, tu) wa s found 300 km north of Moscow.