http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23662464 Izv Akad Nauk Ser Biol. 2013 Jan-Feb;(1):70-8. [Population aspects of sexual dimorphism in guild of the Mustelidae: Mustela lutreola, Neovison vison, Mustela putorius, Martes martes as an example]. [Article in Russian] [No authors listed] Abstract Size sexual dimorphism was investigated on 695 skulls of four Mustelidae species. By extent of increasing of differences between sexes the species are placed in following order: European pine marten (Martes martes), European mink (Mustelalutreola), American mink (Neovison vison), and European polecat (Mustela putorius). Extent of the dimorphism characterizes ecological plasticity of the species and is population characteristic. It is shown that M. martes takes specific and relatively narrow ecological niche of forest ecosystems, entering into weak competitive relationships with smallerMustelidae species. The level of sexual dimorphism of M. lutreola, N. vison and M. putorius reflects intensity of its interspecific relationships within study area. High level of sexual dimorphism of M. putorius is determined by further divergence of ecological niches of males and females, and also appears to be compensatory mechanism reducing consequences of hardened environmental requirements. PMID: 23662464 [PubMed - in process [Posted in FML 7792]