A Geometric Morphometric Analysis of the Molars in Three Species of the Subgenus Mus (Rodentia, Muridae) Based on Outline Method

A relatively new technique of geometric morphometric was applied in a variety of biological fields that relies on study of shape variation. In this study the variation in the shape of the upper and lower molars among 122 mice، belong to one species from Iran (Mus musculus) and two species from Europe (Mus macedonicus، Mus spiciligus) of the subgenus Mus، were studied with outline-based geometric morphometric method. Specimens from Iran were collected from eigh regions and the European species come from an animal breeding animal home in France. Results of Canonical Variate Analysis (CVA) showed significant differences between dental shape of three studied species and indicate differences between M. macedonicus، M. spiciligus from Europe and M. musculus from Iran. Among molars، second upper and first lower molar have more effect in separation M. musculus، M. macedonicus and M. spiciligus from each other. As a result، we can conclude that this method provides a useful way to visualize molar variation in shape.