@article {57609, title = {High frequency audible calls in northern birch mice Sicista betulina in response to handling: effects of individuality, sex and body mass on the acoustics}, year = {2019}, abstract = {

Objectives
This is the first study of the sonic and ultrasonic vocalization in a Dipodidae rodent. For the small-sized quadrupedal northern birch mouse Sicista betulina, phylogenetically related to the bipedal jerboas (Dipodidae), we report null results for ultrasonic vocalization and investigate the acoustic cues to individual identity, sex and body size in the discomfort-related high-frequency tonal sonic calls.

Results
We used a parallel audio recording in the sonic and ultrasonic ranges during weighting adult northern birch mice before the scheduled hibernation in captivity. The sonic (audible) high-frequency tonal calls (ranging from 6.21 to 9.86 kHz) were presented in all individuals (7 males and 4 females). The ultrasonic calls lacked in the recordings. Two-way nested ANOVA revealed the effects of caller individual identity on all 10 measured acoustic variables and the effects of sex on four out of 10 measured acoustic variables. Discriminant function analyses with 10 acoustic variables included in the analysis showed 85.5\% correct assignment of calls to individual and 79.7\% correct assignment of calls to sex; both values significantly exceeded the random values (23.1\% and 54.3\%, respectively) calculated with randomization procedure. Body mass did not differ between sexes and did not correlate significantly with the acoustic variables.

}, doi = {10.1186/s13104-019-4719-9}, url = {https://bmcresnotes.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13104-019-4719-9}, author = {Volodin, Ilya A. and Klenova, Anna V. and Ilchenko, Olga G. and Volodina, Elena V.} } @article {57387, title = {Phylogenetic relationship and variation of alarm call traits of populations of red-cheeked ground squirrels ( Spermophilus erythrogenys sensu lato) suggest taxonomic delineation}, year = {2019}, abstract = {

Distribution area and taxonomic borders within the species complex Spermophilus erythrogenys sensu lato remain questionable. Early evidence suggests that red-cheeked ground squirrels of Southeast Kazakhstan are remarkably different in terms of the acoustic structure of their alarm calls from the red-cheeked ground squirrels of the Kurgan region in Russia. In this study, we analyzed the differences in the acoustic structure of the alarm call and mitochondrial DNA (complete control region, 1005\–1006 bp and complete cytochrome b gene, 1140 bp) in 3 populations of red-cheeked ground squirrels (Tara, Altyn-Emel and Balkhash), all located within areas isolated by geographical barriers in Southeast Kazakhstan. We found that the alarm call variables were similar between the 3 study populations and differed by the maximum fundamental frequency (8.46 \± 0.75 kHz) from the values (5.62 \± 0.06 kHz) reported for the red-cheeked ground squirrels from the Kurgan region of Russia. Variation in mtDNA control region was only 3\% and variation in cytochrome b gene was only 2.5\%. Phylogenetic trees based on cytochrome b gene polymorphism of 44 individuals from the study area and adjacent territories indicated 3 clades with high (98\–100\%) bootstrap support: \“intermedius,\” \“brevicauda\” and \“iliensis\”). We conclude that the 3 study populations in Southeast Kazakhstan belong to the clade intermedius and suggest a taxonomical revision of the species complex Spermophilus erythrogenys sensu lato, including analyses of nuclear DNA and alarm calls for populations of the brevicauda and iliensis clades.

}, keywords = {alarm call, control region, cytochrome b, mitochondrial DNA, vocal communication}, doi = {10.1111/inz2.2019.14.issue-410.1111/1749-4877.12383}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/17494877/14/4}, author = {Matrosova, Vera A. and IVANOVA, Anastasia D. and Volodina, Elena V. and Volodin, Ilya A. and Dmitry Yu. Alexandrov and Sibiryakova, Olga V. and Oleg A. Ermakov} }