Biology_of_Mustelids_Vol_1.pdf

68.
The teble and figures show that the female skull is not just a
reduced copy of the male skull, for the ratios between corresponding dimensions
are very different in the two sexes.
The condylobasal length of the
skull in semi-adult famales is 89.8% of its length in males.
In adults
this ratio is 89.7%.
All the remaining features can be divided into two large groups~
(a) those in the facial, and (b) those in the cerebral part of the skull.
The cereb~al
part of the skull in the female is only slightly different in
its ebsolute measurements from the cerebral part of the male skull, whereas
the differences in the facial region are much more noticeable.
7.
1::1-1
0-11
Fig.3.
Sexual dimorphism of absolute dimensions along the transverse axis
of the skull. (I) Ratio of skull dimehsions in semi-adult females to those
of semi-adult males (in %); (II) the same for adult females and adult males.
Measurements:
(8) width of nasal aperture; (9) rostral width; (10)
interorbital width; (11) width of hard palate; (12) width between ends of
supraorbital processes; (13) zygomatic width; (14) postorbital width;
(15) auricular width; (16)mastoid width; (17) width of foramen magnum.
The horizontal broken line shows that the condylobasal length of the female
skull is 89.7-89.8% of its length in the male skull.
At the same time, these diagrams show that the facial part of the
female skull is relatively smaller than that of the male, while the cerebral
part is relatively larger.
A noteworthy feature in the female is the