INTRAPOPULATION POLYMORPHISM OF THE PINE MARTEN (MARTES MARTES, CARNIVORA, MUSTELIDAE) FROM TVER REGION

The intrapopulation polymorphism of the pine marten Martes martes L. 1758 was investigated on the basis of five samples of skulls. Three of them were collected in the same locality in different time periods. Geographical distances between three local sampling sites varied from 60 to 240 km. The results of studying the material using phenetic (250 skulls), morphometric (151 skulls) and molecular-genetic (21 skin samples) methods allowed characterizing the pine marten as a species with the low level of polymorphism. The genetic variability (pi = 0.0069 +/- 0.0041 and H = 0.90 +/- 0.039) is determined by relatively ancient demographic processes in the Pleistocene and Holocene related to the ice-age history of the species, their expansion, and the formation of its population in the study area. The low levels of phenetic (mu = 1.48 +/- 0.056, h = 0.14 +/- 0.033) and morphometric (Cv = 3.37 +/- 0.41) variability, as well as the low sexual dimorphism (Isd = 9.4), indicate that the pine marten occupies a relatively narrow ecological niche and weakly competes with smaller species of mustelids.