海南猕猴的形态学特征及其适应性

本文通过测量猕猴海南亚种(Macaca mulatta brevicaudus)的形态学指标,讨论了该亚种的形态特点及其适应性意义。于2015年7-8月在海南省陵水县猕猴自然保护区对8个群的猕猴进行了形态学指标测量,共测得253只个体的体质量,132只个体的头长、顶臀长、尾长、前脚掌长、后脚掌长、前臂长、后臂长、大腿长、小腿长等体长数据。研究结果发现:1)猕猴海南亚种的体型明显小于位于更高纬度地区的川西亚种、福建亚种和指名亚种,也小于相近纬度的大陆猕猴,结果支持贝格曼法则和岛屿法则。2)猕猴海南亚种雄性的生长速度大于雌性,且前者体型显著大于后者。3)群大小对群内个体的体型无显著影响,无显著群间竞争。4)个体的体质量、头长、顶臀长随等级增加而增加,但是尾长、臂长、腿长和脚掌长与等级无显著相关关系。本文为探讨猕猴属的形态演化提供基础资料,同时也为濒危灵长类保护和管理提供科学依据。

Morphological Characteristics of Macaca Mulatta Brevicaudus

We conducted a study on the morphological variation and adaptation of semi-wild provisioned Macaca mulatta brevicaudus in the Nanwan Nature Reserve for Rhesus Macaques, Hainan, China. We measured the body weights of 253 individuals, and recorded various length morphometrics (head, crown-rump, tail, fore foot, back foot, forearm, post-brachium, thigh and crus) from 132 individuals. We compared these measurements with those recorded from other Macaca mulatta subspecies, and also investigated the correlation between body weight and social dominance. Our results show the following results. M. m. brevicaudus is significantly smaller than other mainland populations of rhesus macaque subspecies, which could be explained by Bergmann’s rule and the island rule. Males grow faster and attain larger adult body sizes than females. There is no evidence for between-group variation in body sizes indicating that there is a low-level of intergroup competition in this subspecies. Higher dominance rank is positively associated with certain morphological features (body weight, crown-rump length and head length), but has no significant relationship with others (tail length, forearm length, thigh length and foot length). This paper provided basic morphological data for a wild population of a rhesus macaque subspecies, and will be useful in understanding ecological adaptation and promoting population management of this primate species.