Morphological Examination of the Siberian Roe Deer Capreolus pygargus in South Korea

초록

This study compare the external morphological characteristics of Korean roe deer inhabit the inland and Jeju island areas and to clarify the morphological differences by the two groups. Also, total of 40 roe deer bodies were collected from road-kill, poaching and injured survey from December 2004 to June 2009. The result showed that there were significant differences between Inland and Jeju roe deer. Jeju roe deer was relatively smaller than Inland roe deer in body mass. Thus, it appeared to be a unique native species inhabited only in Jeju island in Korea. Because Jeju roe deer that inhabit the island region could be classified as a subspecies level when at least have geographically isolated for a long time and have represented significant external morphology. Therefore, Siberian roe deer in Jeju give a scientific name to Capreolus pygargusjejuensis. Also, body mass, hind foot length, ear length and width in morphometric analysis were identified as efficient characteristics for differentiating Inland from Jeju roe deer.

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