Abstract

PEDRAZA, MANUEL  and  R. CAMPOS, MARTHA. Study of morphological variation of the gonopod of Strengeriana maniformis (Brachyura: Pseudothelphusidae) based on the application of geometric morphometry. Caldasia [online]. 2007, vol.29, n.1, pp.143-152. ISSN 0366-5232.

In this paper geometric morphometry is used to determine the morphological variation of the male’s first gonopod in specimens of Strengeriana maniformis. 35 males from the Crustacean collection of the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales and 9 males of the Museum La Salle collection were examined. The morphometric study was centered in the apex and the mesial process of the left first gonopod using following programs of the TPS series: tpsUtil, tpsDig, tpsRelw, tpsRegr and the Palaeontological Statistics software package (PAST). The analysis allowed us to determine that the most variable portion of the gonopod corresponds to the mesial process, and the most constant is the distal portion of the mesial lobe. The study established that the morphological variation of the gonopod is independent of the size of the specimen and the population. The hypothesis that contamination with heavy metals causes the variation was rejected.

Keywords : Freshwater crabs; gonopod; geometric morphometry.

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