Skull morphometry and sexual size dimorphism in Mus musculus from Slovakia

Twenty-one cranial, dental and mandibular variables and the zygomatic index (A/B) of 107 skulls (57 males, 50 females) were measured and evaluated with regard to the sex of the house mouse, Mus musculus. The main aim of this study was to analyse the impact of sexual dimorphism on skull morphometric variation. The overlap of ranges in skull measurements of both sexes was high. The results of the Student t-test and Hotelling T2 test revealed no sexual size dimorphism in the skull measurements being indicative of monomorphism in the evaluated species. The reason for the different values in M. musculus from different parts of the distribution range may be on account of Bergmann's rule, but to confirm this statement more numerous materials from all distribution ranges should be evaluated in the future.