Chromosome races of the common shrew Sorex araneus in the Ural Mts: a linkbetween Siberia and Scandinavia?

Cytogenetic analysis of natural populations of the common shrew Sorer arane us Linnaeus, 1758 over a large area in the vicinity of the Ural Mts reveale d the presence of four distinct chromosome races (Yuryuzan, Sok, Serov and Novosibirsk). Each of them differed from a neighbouring race by a single wh ole arm reciprocal translocation. The two races on the western slope of the Urals (Yuryuzan and Sok) were identical in karyotype to races which have a lready been reported from Finland (Ilomantsi and Kuhmo). These findings ind icate that, during the last glaciation, the Urals could have been a refugiu m for a group of related chromosome races which are currently distributed i n this mountain range and in Finland, respectively.