Preliminary Study on the Craniomandibular Measurements of the Lesser Ricefield Rat, Rattus losea (Rodentia: Muridae) from Taiwan

Authors

  • Jadab Kumar Biswas Department of Zoology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Chittagong, Chattogram-4331, Bangladesh
  • Masaharu Motokawa 2The Kyoto University Museum, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3329/bjz.v52i2.77284

Keywords:

Morphological characteristics, Rattus losea, Sexual monomorphism, Skull, Traditional morphometrics.

Abstract

A preliminary study was conducted on craniomandibular measurements in the lesser ricefield rat (Rattus losea) collected from Taiwan, using traditional morphometrics among a total of 26 morphometric characteristics. A relatively larger mean size was detected in males for 18 (69.23%) measurements. The condylobasal length ranged from 35.35 to 40.28 mm (mean: 37.65, SD: ± 1.63) in males and 36.38 to 39.12 mm (mean: 37.50, SD: ± 1.02) in females. The mandibular length varied from 19.62 to 23.95 mm (mean: 21.40, SD: ± 0.32) in males and 20.48–22.08 mm (mean: 21.04, SD: ± 0.52) in females. Two-sample univariate analysis indicated non-significant difference between the sexes for all measurements. In overall measurements, the length of the nasal bone was comparatively longer than the length of the frontal, parietal, and inter-parietal bone. Most characteristics of the skull (72%) showed a significant correlation with condylobasal length. Although the first principal component (PC) accounted for 58.24% of the total variance, scatter plots of the principal components showed that male and female values largely overlapped. Finally, we discussed the morphological characteristics of the R. losea skull in relation to the patterns of other Rattus species.      

Bangladesh J. Zool. 52(2): 225-235, 2024               

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Published

2024-11-07

How to Cite

Biswas, J. K., & Motokawa, M. (2024). Preliminary Study on the Craniomandibular Measurements of the Lesser Ricefield Rat, Rattus losea (Rodentia: Muridae) from Taiwan . Bangladesh Journal of Zoology, 52(2), 225–235. https://doi.org/10.3329/bjz.v52i2.77284

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