Morphological Features of Hedgehogs Erinaceus europaeus and E. roumanicus from the Contact Zone of Moscow Oblast

The variability of cranial traits of genotyped hedgehogs Erinaceus europaeus and E. roumanicus was studied in the contact zone of Moscow oblast, where both species interbreed, producing viable offspring. Discriminant analysis and principal component analysis showed that the distribution of the genetically pure individuals of E. roumanicus and E. europaeus in the contact zone is close to that of pure allopatric populations. Hedgehogs with a mixed genotype in craniological traits look like E. roumanicus, which correlates with the predominance of the genes of the latter species in their genotypes; in particular, most of them are backcrosses to E. roumanicus. Thus, reliable morphological identification of hedgehogs in the hybridization zone is impossible, since backcrosses to E. roumanicus are extremely close to genetically pure representatives of this species.