Skull Growth of the Korean Water Deer, <i>Hydropotes inermis argyropus</i>

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Craniomandibular traits of the water deer from the Korean peninsula were examined to assess size change in growth between age groups and sexes. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted based on 34 cranial and 11 mandibular measurements from both sexes. Statistical comparisons of skull measurements revealed a significantly different growth pattern between the sexes. For the male, the size change of the cranium and mandible was straight through age groups, constantly. On the other hand, the size of the cranium and mandible of the female was changed relatively steeper than that of the male in age groups 2 to 3, and the growth curves from age group 3 to 4 were more gradual than age groups 2 to 3. Principal component analysis showed that these 2 sexes have a similar trend. In the allometry analysis, there were differences in growth in 5 traits in both sexes. In conclusion, our study suggests that the male and the female Korean water deer had a similar trend for their growth, although there was a small difference of skull growth for age groups.

Sexual Dimorphism of Craniomandibular Size in the Korean Water Deer, <i>Hydropotes inermis argyropus</i>

“…Result from DA using cranial traits suggests that 2 sexes are well discriminated. Male Korean water deer exhibit characteristic canines, and we previously reported that IB is the representative trait reflecting the canines [8]. To test whether IB influenced the results of DA, the data from the cranial traits except IB were additionally conducted, and this result was identical to that of including IB (P<0.05).…”

“…In addition to this, intraspecific genetic diversity of the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA in this species has been reported [6,7]. Until recently, very little was known about the morphology of the Korean water deer, but a series of our studies have provided basic information on the skull growth pattern, the lamination of the masticatory muscle and the genital organ anatomy [8,[14][15][16]. Here, we report for the first time the sexual dimorphism pattern of the Korean water deer.…”

“…We conducted univariate and multivariate comparisons by using 15 cranial and 11 mandibular measurements ( Table 1, Fig. 1), based on our previous report with slight modification [8]. As univariate analysis, we compared the mean and variance values of each measurement by Welch's t-test and F-test, respectively.…”

Morphology of placentome in Korean water deer <i>Hydropotes inermis argropus</i>

“…The genus Hydropotes , belonging to the subfamily Hydropotinae, and family Cervidae, is distributed across South Korea and the Northeastern China [ 7 , 13 ], and it exhibits unique characteristics, including the presence of well-developed canines in the maxilla and absence of antlers [ 12 ]. Although the ecological [ 10 , 11 , 54 ] and genetic [ 21 , 27 ] studies on this species have been conducted previously, there are limited studies on the anatomical examination of the Korean water deer, which include the male reproductive organ [ 36 , 37 ], branching pattern of the aortic arch [ 1 ], rumen structure [ 19 ], and morphometric studies of the skull [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 31 ].…”

Intraspecific variation of the interparietal suture closure in Siberian roe deer <i>Capreolus pygargus</i> from Jeju Island

“…The number of specimens with scores “3” or “4” was counted for each suture, and such numbers was used to determine the sequence of suture closure [ 15 ]. Furthermore, Pearson’s correlation coefficient between the sum of closure level scores and total cranial length [ 7 ] was computed by using SPSS version 24.0. The sum of closure level scores of each individual was calculated as the total of all closure scores within the specimen.…”