Variablilité géographique de la taille corporelle des marmottes. Geographical variability of body size in marmots.

Résumé

Collections of the Zoological Museum of the Moscow University, the personal collections by L.I. Galkina (Novossibirsk), S.B. Pole (Alma-Ata), B.M. Petrov (Yugoslavia) and literary data were processed. From 27 localities differing in terms of geographical latitude and elevation above the sea level, the mass and body size were studied in Marmota bobak (Kursk Region, Russia, Tatarstan, Kazakhstan, n = 306), M. baibacina (Kirgizia, Jungaria, Altai, n = 165), M. sibirica (Mongolian Altai, Tuva, Khangai, n = 160), M. camtschatica (Trans-Baikal Region, Yakutia, Kamchatka, n = 34), M. menzbieri (Tien Shan, n = 64), M. caudata (Pamir, Kirgizia, n = 260). In the analysis of geographical variability the sex, age and seasonal forms of variability were considered. The data were treated statistically. The body mass and body size (without the tail) in each species increase from the south to the north and also with elevation above the sea level. The established variability patterns were analyzed in terms of ecogeographical variability rules. The variability pattern is in conformity with the Bergman rule.