Geometric and morphometric evaluation between two evolutionary lineages of Hyla savignyi Audouin, 1827

Abstract

Hyla orientalis and Hyla savignyi are two species of the genus Hyla living in Anatolia. While H. orientalis is represented by a single lineage, H. savignyi is reported to be represented by two separate evolutionary lineages and these lineages can adapt to different climatic conditions. We compared these lineages of H. savignyi based on comprehensive morphological methods using a total of 165 male specimens. Linear morphometric data indicated that lineages were differed in terms of head length, distance between eyes and hindlimb length while PCA analysis revealed the differentiation mainly in hindlimb, head with and head length and body size. Furthermore, PCA and DAPC analyses showed that there was a weak discrimination between H. savignyi lineages in morphospace. However, DAPC analysis supported differences in hindlimb characters. In terms of geometric morphometric analyses, the lineages significantly differed in centroid size for dorsal and lateral head landmarks. However, shape analysis revealed that lineages differed significantly only in lateral head shape.