Abstract
Eight samples comprising 73 common shrews were collected from sites close to the coast in the south and west of England and Wales and analysed for karyotype. These samples included individuals of all three known British karyotypic races (Oxford, Aberdeen, Hermitage). Two new karyotypes were recorded: (a) individuals homozygous metacentric for arm combinations ko and np and homozygous acrocentric for chromosome arms q and r (classified as Aberdeen race) and (b) individuals homozygous metacentric for arm combinations ko and pr and homozygous acrocentric for chromosome arms n and q (classified as Hermitage race). The Aberdeen race occurs in the northern and western periphery of Britain (a “Celtic fringe”), the Oxford race is more central and eastern and the Hermitage race has an intermediate range (at least in England and Wales). This distribution is consistent with the hypothesis that the races spread into Britain at the end of the last glaciation in successive waves, the Oxford race partially displacing the Hermitage race which had, in turn, displaced the Aberdeen race. However, allele frequencies at the Mpi-1 locus may be more consistent with an independent origin of the separated northern and western subdivisions of the Aberdeen race.
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Searle, J., Wilkinson, P. Karyotypic variation in the common shrew (Sorex araneus) in Britain – a “Celtic Fringe”. Heredity 59, 345–351 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1987.141
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1987.141
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