engleski

Morphometrical features of cave baer skulls from Veternica cave

Well-preserved cave bear skulls are rare on most Pleistocene sites, but in Veternica cave were founded 19 well-preserved skulls. This fossil material is stored in collection of Institute of Paleontology and Quaternary Geology, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb. Morphometrical analysis of cave bear skulls include measurements of parameters (linear measures) and analysis of dependence between maximal length of skull and forehead width, dependence between maximal length and maximal width of skull, as well as dependence between maximal length of skull and width of occipital part for cave bear populations from Veternica cave and some other localities. Those dependencies are represented in diagrams, and degree of differences between cave bear populations is shown by fitted (regression) lines and stiffness coefficients. Dependence between maximal length of skull and forehead width at compared cave bear populations, as well as the fitted (regression) lines and stiffness coefficients point out the tendency of lesser values of forehead width in relation to maximal length of skull at cave bear population from Veternica cave (b=0, 338), than at cave bear population from Pyrenees (b=0, 432). Dependence between maximal length and maximal width of skull at compared cave bear populations, as well as the fitted (regression) lines and stiffness coefficients point out the tendency of skull elongation at cave bear population from Veternica cave (b=0, 767), in relation to cave bear population from Pyrenees (b=0, 851). Dependence between maximal length of skull and width of occipital part at compared cave bear populations, as well as the fitted (regression) lines and stiffness coefficients point out the tendency of higher values of occipital width in relation to maximal length of skull at cave bear population from Veternica cave (b=0, 754), than at cave bear population from Pyrenees (b=0, 511). Generally, cave bear population from Veternica cave have narrower forehead, lesser skull width, and wider occipital part than cave bear population from Pyrenees. On the base of those results it is possible to point out that some morphological features, like result of different microevolutional development, did not have the same course. Refer to fact that the precise stratigraphic position of each cave bear skull from Veternica cave is unknown, it is impossible to determine the evolutional course of indicated morphological features.

Ursus spelaeus; cave bear; scull; morphology

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