Folia Historico-Naturalia Musei Matraensis - A Mátra Múzeum Természetrajzi Közleményei 18. (1994)

Hír J.: Cricetulus migratorius (PALLAS 1773) (Rodentia, Mammalia) population from the Toros Mountains (Turkey) (With a special reference to the relation of Cricetulus and Allocricetus genera)

cetulus. KURTEN, В: (1968) used the name Cricetulus bursae for Allocricetus bursae. MAYHEW, D. (1977) disputed the validity of the Allocricetus genus as well and underlined the morphological identity of hte Allocricetus and Cricetulus genera. After the investigations of us we can state: the recent Cricetulus migratorius from the Near East and the fossil Allocricetus from Hungary are distinguishable on the basis of the longitudinal measurements of the teeth and toothrowes, and on the basis of the statistic morphological differences as well. The disparities are significant only in the case of the toothrowes. (Fig. 2., 2., Tab. 1., 2.). Among the lenghts of the teeth the differences are considerable, and related to the averages (Fig. 3-8., Tab. 3.-8.). After the investigation of us we can see a process of simplification of the toothcrowns from the Pliocene up to the recent species on the whole. But the trends are very different of the different kind ot teeth. It is most unambiguous at the Ml, M2 molars (Fig. 3., 4.,; Tab. 3., 4.). The process of simplification is clear if we merge the teeth into two groups: 1. teeth with simple morphlolgy; those are the Ml:d, M2:d, M3:a, ml:b, m2:d, m3:a, g-types. The teeth of this group had not any accessory elements. 2. teeth with complex morphology: Ml: a, b, с, M2: a, b, с, M3: a, ml: a, m2: a, b, c, m3: a, g-types Those are the teeth bearing accessory elements. Among the teeth of the Aloocricetus éhiki the complex molars are more typical. The frequency of the simple molars is slightly higher in Allocricetus bursae materials. In the Cricetulus migratorius sample the simple group is in absolute majority (Tab. 10.). We can draw a distinction between the Cricetulus and Allocricetus genera with the above presented methods only of we have a large noumber of teeth. 28