Geometric morphometric of mandible by zokor, Myospalax (Rodentia: Mammalia)

Tema diplomskega dela je bila morfometrična analiza mandibule pri cokorjih, Myospalax (Rodentia: Mammalia): M. aspalax, M. myospalax in M. psilurus. Naša analiza je obsegala 275 mandibul treh vrst cokorjev razdeljenih v sedem vzorcev – OTU-jev. Analizo smo izvedli s pomočjo metod geometrijske morfometrije, ki omogoča ločeno analizo variabilnosti v velikosti in obliki organizmov ali njihovih struktur, v našem primeru spodnje čeljustnice (mandibula). Variabilnost mandibule smo analizirali glede na sekundarni spolni dimorfizem, geografski izvor in medvrstne razlike. Ugotovili smo, da sekundarni spolni dimorfizem ni izražen niti v velikosti niti v obliki mandibule. Potrdili smo, da so med različnimi vrstami cokorjev iz različnih geografskih lokalitet prisotne razlike v velikosti mandibule. Največje mandibule so imeli M. myospalax iz Kazahstana, najmanjše pa M. aspalax iz Zabajkalje. Z analizo glavnih komponent in diskriminantno analizo smo preverjali variabilnost v obliki mandibul. Prišli smo do zaključka, da se mandibule pri različnih vrstah cokorjev razlikujejo med seboj tudi po obliki. Razlike med mandibulami pri cokorjih v obliki smo predstavili z vizualizacijo regresije točk na prvo diskriminantno funkcijo. Geografski vzorci vrste M. myospalax se glede na obliko mandibule med seboj ne razlikujejo, medtem ko se vrsti M. aspalax in M. psilurus med seboj oblikovno razlikujeta. Razlikujeta se po širšem kavljastem podaljšku, manjšem in ožjem sklepu spodnje čeljustnične glave, daljšem kotnem podaljšku in ožjem telesu mandibule.The focus of my graduation thesis was the morphometric analysis of the mandible in zokors, Myospalax (Rodentia: Mammalia) M. aspalax, M. myospalax in M. psilurus.. Our analysis included 275 mandibles of three species of zokors divided into seven samples - OTU\u27s. The analysis was performed by using the method of geometric morphometry, which enables separate analyses of size variability and shape of organisms or their structures, in our case the lower jaw (mandible). We analyzed the variability of mandible according to the secondary sexual dimorphism, geographical origin and interspecies differences. We have determined that the secondary sexual dimorphism is not expressed either in size or in the shape of the mandible. We confirmed that various species of zokors from different geographical localities present differences in the size of the mandible. The largest mandibles had M. myospalax from Kazahstan, and the smallest had M. aspalax from Zabajkalje. With the help of Principal component analysis and the discriminant analysis we examined the variability in the mandible shape. We came to the conclusion that the mandible of different species of zokors also differ in shape. We have conducted visualization of the shape differences accordint to the first discriminant function. Geographical patterns of species M. myospalax do not differ depending on the shape of the mandible, while the species M. aspalax and M. psilurus differ from each other. They differ in the wider hook-shaped extension, a smaller and narrower joint of lower mandible head, longer angular extention and a narrow body of the mandible