Desmana moschata
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English: Russian desman
German: Russischer desman
French: Desman de moscovie
Spanish: Desm n
Distribution areas
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The russian desman is a water animal and
lives in South-Eastern Europe, mainly in
the Volga and Don rivers.
Description of the fur
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The skins are 20 to 25 cm long and the The cuticular structure
tail is about 17 cm. The coat is very fine of the fine fibres, 1000x
and red-brown colour. The undercoat layer
is light grey in colour while coarser fibres have lustrous silver-white lower
parts. The length of the hair fibres is about 10 mm, the guard hairs are up
to 22 mm.
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Desmana moschata
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English: Russian desman
German: Russischer desman
French: Desman de moscovie
Spanish: Desm n
Structure of the hair
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The microscopic structure of the skin
surface is furrowed; the hair follicles are
narrow with straight edges. The follicles
contain clusters of hairs.
The fine fibres are from 8 to 16 µm in
diameter. The cross-sectional outline is The cuticular structure
circular at the bottom, and aster-like in of the fine fibres, 1000x
the middle and upper parts of the shaft.
The cuticular scales are of the non-regular petal-like type with smooth scale
surface and straight scale margins. These fine fibres are non-medullated.
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Desmana moschata
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English: Russian desman
German: Russischer desman
French: Desman de moscovie
Spanish: Desm n
The intermediate fibres are circular or
elliptical in cross-sectional outline at
the bottom and elliptical in upper parts of
the hair shafts. Their diameter is between
25 and 35 µm. The cuticular scales are
even, tile-like and their surface is
smooth. They have straight margins at the
bottom part, but rippled in the upper part
of the hair shafts. The medulla is narrow, The cuticular structure
unbroken and central symmetrical shaped in of a guard hair, 2000x
cross-section. The overall structure of the
medulla is of the loose, uniserial ladder type with the infilling material of
a granular structure.
The guard hairs are elliptical in cross-section and have a diameter of 55
to 85 µm. The cuticular scales are of the crenated, tile-like shape with
smooth scale surface and rippled scale margins. These coarse guard hairs are
usually non-medullated.
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Desmana moschata
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English: Russian desman
German: Russischer desman
French: Desman de moscovie
Spanish: Desm n
Longitudinal section
of an intermediate fibre, 1000x
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Desmana moschata
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English: Russian desman
German: Russischer desman
French: Desman de moscovie
Spanish: Desm n
Transverse section
of a guard hair, 2000x
Numerical code for russian desman skin structure
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Surface of the skin: 3-4-3
Fine fur fibres: 7.1-13-1-1-4-0-0-0-0-8.16-8.18
Intermediate fibres: 1.2-2-1-1.2-3-1-1-2-6-25.35-15.23
Guard hairs: 2-4-1-2-4-0-0-0-0-55.85-18.25
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