Citellus Citellus
-----------------
English: Souslik
German: Ziesel
French: Souslik
Spanish: Sousliki
Distribution areas
------------------
The souslik is a small rodent living in
East Europe, middle Asia and Siberia. About
fifteen species of the souslik are known.
Description of the fur
----------------------
The skins of the souslik are 15 to 30 cm The surface structure
or longer in some cases. The hair coat is of the skin, 200x
relatively short and thin. The back is
yellow-grey or yellow-brown in colour, covered with minor, lightly coloured
spots. The belly is shaded yellow-red. The under-fur layer is from 3 to 6 mm
thick. The coarse guard hairs are 14 to 18 mm long, with a lustrous
appearance, and are black-brown coloured in the upper part, and lightly
coloured in the lower part, of the shafts. The fibres are straight.
|
|
Citellus Citellus
-----------------
English: Souslik
German: Ziesel
French: Souslik
Spanish: Sousliki
Structure of the hair
---------------------
The microscopic structure of the skin
surface is smooth; the hair follicles are
narrow with straight edges. The average
follicle contains more than 10 hair shafts.
The fine fur fibres are circular in
cross-section. The cuticle is covered by A group of the fine hairs,
cornet-like scales with a smooth scale 600x
surface and straight scale margins. These
fine fibres are non-medullated. The diameter of the fibres is from 8 to 20 µm.
|
|
Citellus Citellus
-----------------
English: Souslik
German: Ziesel
French: Souslik
Spanish: Sousliki
The intermediate fibres are ellipsoidal
in cross-section with a diameter at the
widest section of 20 to 35 µm. The fibres
are non-medullated at the bottom but, in
the middle and upper parts, the shafts have
a wide, unbroken medulla, which is central
symmetrical-shaped in cross-section. The
medulla is of the loose uniserial ladder
type with an infilling substance of the The cuticular structure
amorphous type. The cuticle is of the of the fine fibres, 2000x
rounded tile-like type with a grooved scale
surface and straight scale margins.
The guard hairs are from 50 to 110 µm in diameter. The cross-sectional
outline is circular at the bottom but, in the flattened tip, it is often
sickle-shaped. The cuticular scales are either even tile-like or rounded
tile-like with a finely grooved surface and straight margins. The medulla is
wide, unbroken and central symmetrical shaped. The overall structure of the
medulla is sheet-like. The infilling substance is amorphous.
|
|
Citellus Citellus
-----------------
English: Souslik
German: Ziesel
French: Souslik
Spanish: Sousliki
Longitudinal section
of a fine fur fibre, 1000x
|
|
Citellus Citellus
-----------------
English: Souslik
German: Ziesel
French: Souslik
Spanish: Sousliki
Transverse section
of a guard hair, 400x
Numerical code for souslik skin structure
-----------------------------------------
Surface of the skin: 1-4-3
Fine fur fibres: 1-5-1-1-4-0-0-0-0-8.21-3.7
Intermediate fibres: 2-3-2-1-2-1-1-2.3-8-20.35-8.15
Guard hairs: 1.4-2.3-2-1-2-1-1-14-8-50.111-14.23
|
