Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Winter 1987

Publication Title

Virginia Journal of Science

Volume

38

Issue

4

Pages

351-357

Abstract

The threatened subspecies of the southeastern shrew, Sorex longirostris fisheri, is endemic to the Great Dismal Swamp of southeastern Virginia. Previous studies based on discriminant analysis of external measurements determined that intergrades with the upland form, Sorex l. longirostris, exist along the periphery of the Swamp. To better discriminate among these populations, a study of cranial morphology was initiated. Fifteen cranial measurements were taken, using 59 specimens of Sorex collected previously form southeastern Virginia, including the Dismal Swamp. Both Principal Component and Cluster Analyses revealed no significant cranial variation or morphometric patterns within the specimens examined, but a continuum of increasing overall cranial size does exist. Animals collected farthest from the Swamp (S. l. longirostris) have small skulls, animals taken within the Swamp (S. l. fisheri) have the largest skulls, and at locations between these forms, animals showed intermediate skull size.

Comments

This reference was downloaded from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, which hosts volumes of the Virginia Journal of Science (VJS) earlier than Volume 50, 1999. ODU Digital Commons hosts VJS volumes 50 through the present, available here: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/vjs/.

Rights

Article is open access under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).

Original Publication Citation

Padgett, T. M., Everton, R. K., & Rose, R. K. (1987). The identification of the threatened southeastern shrew using multivariate statistical techniques. Virginia Journal of Science, 38(4), 351-357. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/270771#page/377/mode/1up

ORCID

0000-0001-9341-1615 (Rose)

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