Assessment of life history and status at the death of Apodemus mice from recording structures [Russian]

摘要

Ground sections of mandibles in 136 specimens of Apodemus uralensis and 108 specimens of A. agrarius snap-trapped in the Volgograd region were investigated. The possibility of determining the age, sex, reproductive status, and season of death is shown. In juveniles the bone tissue is loose, there is little cementum on the roots of molars. In subadults and adults of this year, the bone tissue is dense without increment lines. In the mice that died late in winter the winter lines may be seen along the outer edge of bone and molar cementum. In the mice that died in winter the daily layers in incisor dentin are narrow. In the overwintered mice there are a winter resting line in bone and a winter incremental line in the molar cementum. The later the mouse died, the farther from the outer edge the winter lines in bone and cementum. The later the mouse was born, the closer the winter line in cementum to the dentin. Subadults differ from adults by the narrower incisor walls and regular dentin layers. Adult females as opposed to adult males, have distinct layers in incisor dentin. The blind test of the ground and stained sections of mandibles in 167 specimens of A. agrarius, A. uralensis, and A. flavicollis gave the following results. The percentage of correct estimates for age is 92-97%, season of death 85-97%, reproductive status 81-88, and sex of adults 82-86%.