Morphotypic, craniometric and genotypic diversification in Apodemus flavicollis and Apodemus sylvaticus

Some aspects of genetic and morphologic diversification in two Italian rodent species (Apodemus flavicollis and Apodemus sylvaticus) were analyzed. The individual-centered approach used consists of the analysis of morphotypic, craniometric and genotypic diversity. The results obtained were: a good agreement between genetic and morphologic clustering of studied populations, confirming the usefulness of the morphologic characters in systematic studies (the expected direct correlation between genotypic and morphotypic diversity was, however, quite low, with the exception of the richness component); an inverse correlation between genetic distance (that in this case could be considered an estimator of isolation and small size of the populations) and genotypic or morphotypic richness; a greater morphometric diversity in A. flavicollis than A. sylvaticus, probably due to competitive pressure.