摘要：

Landmark based morphometrics was applied to investigate phenotypic relationships among various populations of the roman mole Talpa romana Thomas, a fossorial insectivore endemic to South Central Italy. Cartesian coordinates of 42 landmarks were recorded on the ventral and dorsal view of the skull, from 123 specimens belonging to 32 sample localities. Data were first pooled on a ecogeographic basis, and then processed through various statistical and geometric analyses of size and shape. Results revealed a clinal variation of size, with the smallest moles confined in the peripheral regions of the species range. A categorical separation is observed when considering only the shape factors, with one southern population clearly distinct from all other samples examined. This abrupt change in shape appears mostly related to variation at the non-linear scale, with major changes localized in the braincase and in the palatal region of the skull. Possible historical and adaptive causes of the observed patterns are discussed.

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