Morphometric patterns in Recent and fossil penguins (Aves, Sphenisciformes)
A total of 622 skin specimens, 527 skeletons, and myological data compiled by Schreiweis (1972) were used to investigate morphometric patterns within and among the 18 Recent species of Spheniscidae, and to compare the family with a fighted species, the common diving‐petrel (Pelecanoides urinator), c...
| Published in: | Journal of Zoology |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
2009
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| Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7166393/ https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1989.tb02582.x |
| Summary: | A total of 622 skin specimens, 527 skeletons, and myological data compiled by Schreiweis (1972) were used to investigate morphometric patterns within and among the 18 Recent species of Spheniscidae, and to compare the family with a fighted species, the common diving‐petrel (Pelecanoides urinator), considered by some authorities to be similar to the flighted ancestor of penguins. Fossil penguins also were studied using measurements from 111 skeletal elements representing 18 species. Most external and skeletal measurements follow interspecific rankings in body mass; the latter span a 30‐fold range from 1 kg in Eudyptula minor to 30 kg in Aptenodytes forsteri. Flighted Pelecanoides is only one‐tenth the mass of the smallest spheniscid. Wing areas and body masses of penguins maintain approximate geometric similitude among species; the allometric coefficient is 0.62 ± 0.04. Several skeletal elements are less derived in conformation in the fossil penguins than in modern confamilials. Despite great variation in the lengths of wing and leg skeletons, penguins show relative consistency in proportions of wing elements; pelvic proportions were more variable within the Spheniscidae. Proportions within both limbs are distinctly different from those of Pelecanoides. Analysis of correlation structures within species of penguin revealed three major subsets of skeletal variables that are highly intercorrelated: trunk‐skull lengths, appendicular‐trunk widths, and appendicular lengths. Within these groups, measurements tend to separate by anatomical region and, to a lesser degree, by limb. Canonical analysis of skin and skeletal measurements revealed groupings of spheniscids on the basis of size and relatively complex shape variables. Cluster analyses of taxa on the canonical variates confirmed the similarity of congeners in Eudyptes, Eudyptula and Spheniscus; species of Aptenodytes and, to a lesser degree, Pygoscelis, are more heterogeneous. A cluster analysis of principal components of myological measurements tabulated by ... |
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