In 1964, Harrison talked about the spread of Erinaceus europaeus in
Europe.
Recently, studies have shown the existence of two species of hedgehogs
which are found in Europe and they belong to the genus Erinaceous. They are
as follows:
1- E. euro
paeus L.1758, and they are found in the West of Europe.
2- E. concolor M.1838, and they are found in the East of Europe.
The study has been done on 19 features of the skulls (10 males, 9 females)
which were collected from the South of Syria. We applied the biometrical
measurements according to the method (Miller, 1912). The most important
dimensions he used in the biometrical measurements are: (Nas I, MndI, mI).
This is according to the method of (Pucek1981), the skulls of the (E. concolor)
have higher values.
The results showed that the Syrian skulls are lower and shorter. So, we can
classify the hedgehogs in both Syria and Bulgaria from one genus called
E.concolor and the differences in the nasal index NasI are not important.
We Conclude:
1-The Hedgehogs in Syria, Near East area, Arab area and Asia Minor all
belong to the ( E.concolorMartin ) .
2-The hedgehogs found in the Asia Minor and the Arab area belong to the
genus (E . concolor).
