Abramov A.V., Puzachenko A.Yu. 2009. Spatial variation of sexual dimorphism in the Siberian weasel Mustela sibirica (Mustelidae, Carnivora) // Russian J. Theriol. Vol.8. No.1: 17–28 [in English].
Alexei V. Abramov [a.abramov@mail.ru], Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab., 1, Saint Petersburg 199034, Russia;
Andrey Yu. Puzachenko [puzak1@rambler.ru], Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetnyi per., 22, Moscow 109017, Russia.
KEY WORDS: geographic variation, Mustela sibirica, sexual size dimorphism, skull.
ABSTRACT. Spatial variation in sexual size dimorphism was assessed for the Siberian weasel (Mustela sibirica) across localities in Western, Central and Eastern Siberia. Twenty-three cranial measurements from 192 adult specimens were studied using univariate morphometric and non-metric multidimensional scaling techniques. Males found to be larger than females for all characters. Significant spatial variation in degree of SSD was found. The larger degree of sexual dimorphism was found in M. sibirica from Far East and smaller degree of SSD in samples from Western and Central Siberia. Results were interpreted to support the resource partitioning hypothesis.