Sexual size and shape dimorphism of the Vipers at the Balkans – small, medium and large scale

Tomović Ljiljana; Institute of Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia; lili@bio.bg.ac.rs
Crnobrnja-Isajlović Jelka; Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Niš, Višegradska 33, 18000 Niš, Serbia; jelka.c.i@gmail.com
Ajtić Rastko; Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia, Dr Ivana Ribara 91, 11070 Belgrade, Serbia; rastko@zzps.rs
Sterijovski Bogoljub; Macedonian Ecological Society - herpetology group, Bulevar "Kuzman Josifovski-Pitu" 28/3-7 1000 Skopje, Macedonia sterijovski@yahoo.ca
Jelić Dušan; State Institute for Nature Protection, Trg Mažuranića 5, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia; dusan.jelic@dzzp.hr
Djordjević Sonja; Institute of Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia; sonjadj@bio.bg.ac.rs
Djurakić Marko; Students' research organization "Josif Pančić", Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 2, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia; marko_djurakic@yahoo.com
Bonnet Xavier; CEBC-CNRS, 79360, Villiers-en-bois, France

Puni tekst:
(Engleski)

Tip članka:
Kongresni sažetak

Sažetak
Vipers had often been used in analyses of sexual dimorphism in snakes. However, most studies focused on SD at "small scale", i.e. at population level, or on general pattern at "large scale", i.e. within the species, with seldom comparison between species of the same genus.
We compared sexual dimorphism in three Vipers species from the Balkans. Also, we tested differences in the degree and direction of SSD and SShD at population level ("small scale"), as compared to general pattern at "medium scale" (inter-population) or at "large scale" (at species) level. Three populations of Vipers (one population per species) with relatively large sample size were analysed: 94 adults of nose-horned viper (44♀, 50X), 38 adults of adder (33♀, 5X) and 138 adults of meadow viper (93♀, 45X). Data from additional populations from the wider range were analysed with total samples size as follows: 733 adult animals of nose-horned vipers (370♀, 363X), 85 adults of adder (56♀, 29X) and 181 adults of meadow viper (120♀, 61X).
We used ANOVA for analyses of SSD and ANCOVA (with total length as covariate) for analyses of SShD. ANOVA and ANCOVA results shoved that at "small scale" species of Vipers differed in number of sexually dimorphic traits: in V. ursinii 17/22 and 5/13 traits were dimorphic, in V. ammodytes 11/22 and 11/14, and in V. berus 5/22 and 3/13 (for size and shape respectively). The same analyses applied to "medium scale" of V. berus and V. ursinii showed that in V. ursinii 16/22 and 8/13 traits were dimorphic and in V. berus 9/17 and 8/13 (for size and shape respectively). And finally, analyses done at "large scale" (species level) of V. ammodytes showed that the number of sexually dimorphic traits in this species was 8/14 and 7/10 (for size and shape, respectively). In analyses of the degree and direction of sexual dimorphism, at "small scale" (i.e. at population level), all three species displayed similar direction, but variable degree of SD for most morphological characters. When we compared degree and direction of SD between "small scale" and "large scale" levels in V. ammodytes, we found that the degree was much higher at population than at species level, while direction was variable. In V. berus, both the degree and direction were highly heterogeneous between "small scale" and "medium scale" levels. Contrary to this, in V. ursinii, both the degree and direction were very homogeneous within "small scale" and "medium scale" levels.

Ključne riječi
SSD, SShD, V. ammodytes, V. berus, V. ursinii, Balkans