Morphometric Analyses with 15 Subspecies of Striped Field Mouse, Apodemus agrarius Pallas (Mammalia, Rodeotia) from Eurasia

Thirty one morphometric characters of specimens in 15 subspecies of striped field mouse(Apodemus agrarius Pallas) from Eurasia were analyzed to clarify taxonomic status of these subspecies. Five major subgroups in A. agrarius were revealed: I, a largest-size form, specimens from two southern from other six localities in Korea, subspecies coreae and pallescens; III, the other large-size from, specimens from Astrachan in western Russia, subspecies volgensis; IV, a medium-size form, specimens from 16 localities in eastern Asia(North Korea, China, and eastern Russia), subspecies coreae, manchuricus, pallidior, ningpoensis, and insulaemus; V, a small-size form, specimens from 16 localities in western Asia and Europe (Kazakhstan, Russia, Lithuania, and Ukraine), subspecies tianschanicus, ognevi, agrarius, septentrionalis, nikolski, caucasicus, and karelicus. From this morphometric analyses, the followings are concluded: subspecies chejuensis is a larger-size form, as noted by Johnson and Jones(1955): subspecies pallescens is the synonym of subspecies agrarius, as suggested by Koh(1986): subspecies coreae from Korea is a large-size form and is idistinct from other 12 subspecies in Eurasia: the eastern form of subspecies ningpoensis by Corbet(1978) is a medium-size form o subspecies manchuricus, pallidior, ningpoensis, and insulaemus from eastern Asia (China and eastern Russia), and it includea North Korea specimens: a small-size form from western Asia and Europe(subspecies tianschanicus, ognevi, agrarius, septentrionalis, nikolski, caucasicus, and karelicus) is the western form of subspecies agrarius by Corbet(1978); the other large-size form of subspecies volgensis from western Russia is a distinct subspecies, which differs from the western subspecies agrarius. Therefore, it is concluded that 15 subspecies of A. agrarius can be classifed into five subspecies (chejuensis, coreae, ningpoensis, agrarius, and volgensis), although it is necessary to measure and analyze morphometric characters of specimens of other seven subspecies(albostriatus, maculatus, rubens, kahmanni, henrici, gloveri, and harti) for the complete reclassification of this species).