MORPHOLOGICAL SEGREGATION OF EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES IN THE VIRGO CLUSTER

We present evidence for a morphological segregation of early-type gala xies with different isophote shapes in the Virgo cluster. Comparing lo cal projected densities around galaxies, we find that, independently o f their classification as elliptical or lenticular, galaxies with boxy isophotes are located in local density enhancements, while galaxies w ith discy isophotes lie in regions of lower local densities. This segr egation is therefore not just the reflection of ordinary morphological segregation between elliptical and lenticular galaxies, and it shows that the property of galaxies that is more sensitive to the environmen t is the presence or not of a stellar disc, rather than the bulge-to-d isc ratio (and therefore the classification as an E or an SO galaxy).