The role of beak shape in octopodid taxonomy Ogden, R.S.;
Allcock, A.L.; Watts, P.C.; Thorpe, J.P.. 1998 The role of beak
shape in octopodid taxonomy. South African Journal of Marine
Science, 20. 29-36.Full text not available from this repository.
(Request a copy) Beak shapes in nine species of Southern Ocean
octopodids were measured using seven size-standardized ratios.
The results were analysed using principal component analysis and
discriminant function analysis and show that beak shape may be
used as a taxonomic character to distinguish between genera, but
not between species. Stepwise discriminant function analysis
indicated that all seven ratios were required to maximize
discrimination between beaks. A phenogram constructed from a
matrix of Mahalanobis distances differed from a dendrogram
produced from genetic data. This suggests that, although useful
for discrimination, beak morphology is probably not suitable for
constructing phylogenies. |Programmes:||BAS Programmes > Other|
|NORA Subject Terms:||Mar