BIOMETRIC AND GENETIC EVALUATION OF SPERMOPHILUS (MAMMALIA: RODENTIA) POPULATIONS IN WESTERN TURKEY

Three Spermophilus populations in western Turkey with two different karyotypic forms were analyzed biometrically (NTSYS) and genetically from their 16S rRNA sequence data. Two of these populations, from Turkish Thrace and southwest Anatolia, share the same chromosomal number of 2n = 40 but were previously considered to represent two closely related species, Spermophilus citellus and Spermophilus xanthoprymnus. Our study revealed a high degree of biometric and genetic similarity between these two populations, concluding that both belong to the same species, S. citellus. In contrast, the population from central Anatolia was identified as S. xanthoprymnus, which shows the diploid chromosomal number of 2n = 42 and distinct biometric and genetic differences. UPGMA cluster analysis established the close relationship between S. citellus (Turkish Thrace) and S. citellus (southwest Anatolia) with a distance of 0.84, and S. xanthoprymnus connected to this cluster with a distance of 0.93. The similar cluster was als...