BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Insect wing morphology has been used in many studies to describe variations among species and populations using traditional morphometrics, and more recently geometric morphometrics. A landmark-based geometric morphometric analysis of the wings of three species of Aedes (Diptera: Culicidae), viz. Ae. aegypti, Ae. albopictus and Ae. pseudotaeniatus, at District Dehradun wa...

Morphometrics is a seductive mistress. Despite its current popularity, and despite concerted attempts to explain the revolution that occurred in its practice during the 1980s and 90s, it still lulls nascent practitioners down the garden path of apparent mathematical sophistication. In return they are often left bereft and bewildered, having squandered their time carrying out simplistic analysis...

The relationship between vertebrate morphology and swimming performance has long interested biologists. Recent work on predator-induced morphological plasticity of anuran tadpoles has increased this interest. Here, I use data on five species of spadefoot toad tadpoles (Scaphiopodidae) to compare linear and geometric morphometrics. Linear measures explain only 7-26% of the variation in swimming ...

Mammalian spermatozoa, particularly those of rodent species, are extremely complex cells and differ greatly in form and dimensions. Thus, characterization of sperm size and, particularly, sperm shape represents a major challenge. No consensus exists on a method to objectively assess size and shape of spermatozoa. In this study we apply the principles of geometric morphometrics to analyze rodent...

Scalation, colour pattern, linear and geometric morphometrics were used to quantify geographical differentiation in the long-nosed snake, Rhinocheilus lecontei, and to test the hypothesis that all four subspecies are morphologically distinct. Also investigated were potential associations between morphological (scalation, colour pattern, linear measurements) and environmental variables (climate,...