Phenotypic Variability and Heritability of the Cephalic Region of Caiman latirostris

CAROLINA IMHOF; FEDERICO GIRI; PABLO A. SIROSKI; AMAVET, PATRICIA

JOURNAL OF MORPHOLOGY

WILEY-LISS, DIV JOHN WILEY & SONS INC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2016

0362-2525

The study of the cephalic shape of croco- dilian is relevant in the fields of ecology, systematics, evolution, and conservation. Therefore, the integration of geometric analysis within quantitative genetics allows the evaluation of the inheritable shape compo- nents. In this study, the dorsal cephalic region of 210 Caiman latirostris hatchlings was analyzed from seven populations in Santa Fe, Argentina, to detect intra-, and inter-population phenotypic variability, and to determine the heritability of biological shape and size, using newly available geometric morphometric tools. The principal component analysis showed two configu- rations of cephalic shape that could be related to sexual dimorphism. In the canonical variate analysis, Pro- crustes distances between groups indicated that there are differences in shape among populations. Further- more, the method of partial least squares indicated a covariation between cephalic shape and environmental variables. Regarding to CS of the skull we found signif- icant differences among populations, moreover the par- tial least squares was also significant. Estimates of the heritability of shape and size were high, indicating that the components of these features are susceptible to the selection.