Non-metrical variation in the skull of Norwegian lynx

Abstract

The variation of 53 non-metrical variants in the skull of 50 male and 50 female Norwegian lynx Lynx lynx (Linnaeus, 1758) were examined. The variants are described in detail, and the range of the variation of each variant is tabulated. A significant association between left and right side in bilateraI variants were obtained in more than 50% of the variants, indicating that incidence of the variants on each side can not be pooled. Sex-, size-, and age-dependence of the variants were studied based on the incidence from one side only (the left), but few significant results were obtained. Correlation between each of the 1378 pairs of variants was calculated and 107 of them (7.8%) were found to be significant.