Factors of polymorphism of craniometric characters in the Red fox (Vulpes vulpes, Carnivora, Canidae) from the Center of European Russia

Biology Bulletin. 2019. Vol. 46. No. 8. P. 946–959.

Korablev N. P., Korablev M. P., Korablev A. P., Korablev P. N., Zinoviev A., Zhagarayte V. A., Tumanov I. L.

Craniometry was investigated in four samples of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes L. 1758) (n = 403) from
Tver oblast. Factors affecting the metric polymorphism of the fox skull can be presented in the following order
according to their significance: age, sex, geographic, and chronographic variability. The geographic and
chronographic factors are correlated with the jaws and teeth. An analysis of the time interval from the early
1990s to the present shows a weak trend toward an increase in some cranial structures. However, the inclusion
of material from the 1980s reveals a more complex trend in the chronographic variability with size fluctuations.
This may be due to the high rate of mortality which determines the stochastic nature of the chronographic
size variability. The spatial variability of odontological and craniometric characters can be of adaptive
functional significance.

Keywords: Craniometry, Polymorphism, red fox