MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF OLD-WORLD TALPIDAE (MAMMALIA, INSECTIVORA) USING PARTIAL-WARP SCORES

We illustrate one approach to bridging the gap between the statistical methodology of multivariate morphometrics and the graphically oriente d methods of geometric morphometrics for landmark data. Partial-warp s cores (elements of the weight matrix from relative-warp analysis) are used as variables to describe nonaffine shape variation. The results o f various multivariate analyses can then be visualized by reconstructi on of images as weighted linear combinations of thin-plate splines. Th e method was applied to data on seven species of Old World moles of th e family Talpidae. There was no evidence for sexual dimorphism or any interaction between sex differences and species differences. There wer e large statistically significant differences among species with respe ct to nonaffine shape differences (local deformations). Small but stat istically significant differences were found among species with respec t to the uniform component of shape variation.