Abstract
Wood mice (genus Apodemus) are common murid rodents in the Palearctic region. Individual species (populations) differ in their preferred habitat (woodlands, steppes-fields, rocks) and behaviour (tendency to digging, jumping, climbing).
It is therefore of special interest to evaluate interspecific (interpopulation) variability in postcranial skeleton within this group and to suggest ecological interpretations of observed differences. We studied skeletons of 265 wood mice.
The multivariate analysis, based on size adjusted data, revealed clear morphological separation among species belonging to different subgenera. The morphological characters responsible for this separation and the position of the control sample of A. peninsulae support the view, that ecology participated in the shaping of the postcranial skeleton of the studied species.
However, there were found only subtle morphological differences among individual Sylvaemus species, in spite of variability in their ecological requirements.