The British Herpetological Society

The Herpetological Journal is the Society's prestigious quarterly scientific journal. Articles are listed in Biological Abstracts, Current Awareness in Biological Sciences,Current Contents, Science Citation Index, and Zoological Record.

 ISSN 0268-0130

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pdf 05. Variation in skull size and shape in a newt species with male-biased sexual dimorphism

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pp. 41-46

Authors: Milena Cvijanović, Nazan Üzüm, Ana Ivanović, Aziz Avci, Çiçek Gümüş Özcan & Kurtuluş Olgun

Abstract:  According to Rensch’s rule, sexual size dimorphism (SSD) increases with body size in groups where males are the larger sex and decreases when females are larger. The genus Ommatotriton represents a well-defined lineage with male-biased SSD within a group of Eurasian newts otherwise characterised by females being larger than males. In the present paper, we explore sexual dimorphism in skull size and shape for populations of the banded newt Ommatotriton ophryticus, applying geometric morphometrics to investigate size-dependent allometric shape variation. Sexual dimorphism in skull size was not correlated with the size of males, rejecting Rensch’s rule. Sexual dimorphism in skull shape of O. ophryticus is entirely due to allometric, size-related shape changes between sexes.

Key words: Banded newts, geometric morphometrics, Ommatotriton ophryticus, Rensch’s rule

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IMPORTANT NOTE - JUNE 2020

Please note that as from Volume 31 Number 1 (January 2021) on, the Herpetological Journal will be available as an online publication only - the last print edition will be Volume 30 Number 4.   

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