CHROMOSOMAL AND ALLOZYME CHARACTERIZATION OF THE CAUCASIAN SHREW, SOREX SATUNINI, FROM NORTH-EASTERN TURKEY

Fifteen individuals of the Caucasian shrew, Sorer satunini, from five sites in north-eastern parts of Asian Turkey were examined. All the sh rews were studied by starch gel electrophoresis whereas 7 animals from 3 localities were karyotyped. The diploid number of autosomes was 2n( a) = 22; there was one pair of large metacentrics, one pair of large s ubmetacentrics, four pairs of medium-sized meta-/submetacentrics, four pairs of small biarmed elements, and a single pair of small acrocentr ics in the diploid karyotype (NFa = 42). The sex chromosomes made up a standard XX bivalent in females and an XY1Y2 trivalent in males. Out of 36 allozyme loci scored, seven were found to be polymorphic in at l east one population of S. satunini. One locus appeared to be discrimin ant and three other loci were partially discriminant between the Cauca sian shrew and S. araneus. Indices of genetic variability, i.e., mean number of alleles per locus (A), frequency of polymorphic loci (P-5%), and mean heterozygosity (H-e) displayed rather low values in all the samples of the Caucasian shrew under study. Moreover, Nei's genetic di stances within the Turkish S. satunini were found to be extremely low (0.000-0.001). The electrophoretical results were then compared with p reviously published data from the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Macedon ia at 27 loci. The genetic distances between populations of the two sp ecies appeared to range between 0.052 and 0.110.