Morphological variation of plantain squirrel Callosciurus notatus (Boddaert, 1785) (Rodentia: Sciuridae) populations in West Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

Plantain squirrel (Callosciurus notatus (Boddaert, 1785)) is unique in terms of morphological and geographical variations, making this species is divided into three sub-species so far. A study about the morphological variation of plantain squirrel among four populations in West Sumatra was conducted. As many as 38 specimens of C. notatus were collected from Padang, Lubuk Basung, Sangir, and Baso using a survey and direct collection method. The morphometric measurement was conducted in the Laboratory of Genetic and Biomolecular, Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Andalas University. Morphological measurement data based on 21 external characters and 35 skull characters were analyzed by the Kruskal Wallis test, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and Unweighted Pair Group Method Arithmetic Average (UPGMA). The result showed that there was morphological variation in ten body characters and nine skull characters. Body and tail length characters that had a relatively longer length ratio were found in Baso population. Character lengths of ears and extremities (ulna and digiti length) which relatively had a longer ratio were found in the Sangir population. Skull morphological characters that showed significant differences were generally found in Baso populations having longer ratio values than other populations. The results of this study suggest that it is necessary to do further research to determine what environmental factors specifically influence certain morphological characters.