Publicação:
Morphometric analysis of a population of diplopods of the genus Rhinocricus Karsch, 1881

Nenhuma Miniatura disponível

Data

2005-06-03

Orientador

Coorientador

Pós-graduação

Curso de graduação

Título da Revista

ISSN da Revista

Título de Volume

Editor

Tipo

Artigo

Direito de acesso

Acesso abertoAcesso Aberto

Resumo

Diplopods belonging to the subclass Helminthomorpha may present one or both leg pairs of the seventh diplosegment modified into structures that aid copulation, called gonopods. These structures are used as a taxonomic trait for the description of most species. In the genus Rhinocricus these structures are closely similar, so that it is difficult to distinguish species only on the basis of this trait. Two species, R. padbergi and R. varians, are found in the same habitat and present gonopods practically identical in shape; together they present a broad colour gradient, ranging from dark brown to light beige. Morphometric data for individuals of the experimental group were submitted to ANOVA and MANOVA, using Hotelling-Lawley Trace and generalized Mahalanobis distances (D 2) tests. The results demonstrated a relationship between size and colour, with darker individuals being larger. On the basis of this preliminary analysis, we may suggest that the two species are distinct since dark individuals are distant from medium- and light-coloured individuals according to the D 2 values. This seems to indicate a possible polymorphism of individuals belonging to R. padbergi which present close proximity in the values obtained. In all analyses, we observed that the main variables were diameter, length and telson size.

Descrição

Idioma

Inglês

Como citar

Folia Biologica, v. 51, n. 2, p. 40-46, 2005.

Itens relacionados

Financiadores

Unidades

Departamentos

Cursos de graduação

Programas de pós-graduação