Ábrahám Levente (szerk.): Válogatott tanulmányok IV. - Natura Somogyiensis 15. / Miscellanea 4. (Kaposvár, 2009)

Lánszki József - Valkár Béla: Adatok a Magyarországon élő nyest, közönséges görény és menyét külső morfológiájához

Natura Somogyiensis

15

227-230

Kaposvár, 2009

Data for external morphometry of stone marten, polecat and weasel in Hungary

JÓZSEF LaNSZKI1 & BÉLA VALKÁR2

'Fonó, Dózsa Gy. út 24, H-7271, Hungary, e-mail: martes3@freemail.hu 2Szécsény, Dózsa Gy. út 16., H-3170, Hungary

Lanszki, J. & Valkár, B: Data for external morphometry of stone marten, polecat and weasel in Hungary. Abstract: External morphologic parameters of the stone marten (Martes foina), polecat (Mustela putorius) and weasel (Mustela nivalis) were examined by means of carcasses (n=93, 34 and 12, respectively) collected between 1984 and 2009. The adult males were significantly bigger than the females, in body weight (BW) and all studied measurements, such as body length (BL), tail length (TL), hind foot length and ear length. Mean BW of adult stone martens was 1703 g and 1309 g, BL 450 mm and 419 mm, TL 255 mm and 241 mm in males and females, respectively. Mean BW of adult polecats was 1363 g and 728 g, BL 410 mm and 358 mm, TL 158 mm and 143 mm in males and females, respectively. Mean BW of adult male weasels was 146 g, BL 213 mm, and TL 69 mm.

Keywords: Martes foina, Mustela putorius, Mustela nivalis Hungary

Introduction

The stone marten {Martes foina), the polecat {Mustela putorius) and the weasel (M nivalis) are common carnivores in Hungary (Heltai and Lanszki 2007a, 2007b, Tóth et al. 2007). Despite wide geographical distribution of these mustelids, knowledge about the biometry, biology and demography is still scarce in Hungary. Overview works (eg. Faragó 2002) or The Atlas of Hungarian Mammals (eds. Bihari et al. 2007) give series of external measurements concerning biometry, mainly from other countries. The aim of this study was to summarize suppletory external morphologic parameters from the Hungarian population of the three mustelids.

Material and methods

Morphologic parameters of road traffic killed and trapped stone martens (n=93), polecats (n=34) and weasels (n=12) were examined by means of carcasses collected between 1984 and 2009. The seasonal distribution of stone marten carcasses collected was the following, winter: 33, spring: 15, summer: 15, autumn: 20 and unknown: 10. The stone marten bodies originated from Nógrád county: 51, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county: 16, Somogy and Baranya counties: 20, and western Transdanubian region: 6. The seasonal