Are you what you eat? A geometric morphometric analysis of gekkotan skull shape

Abstract

The morphological variation of the gekkotan skull, as visualized through dorsal and lateral views of a large sample of skulls (164 species; 68% of all gekkotan genera), was analysed using geometric morphometrics. We describe skull changes using variables associated with the contour variations (uniform components), as well as localized changes (partial warps). We defined dietary categories based on the available information for 105 species. These categories, together with phylogenetic affinities, were used as descriptors of the skull shape variables in subsequent statistical analyses. Changes based on the morphological variables are described and discussed in an ecological and phylogenetic context. We consider that this new information relating gekkotan phylogeny and diet will be useful in future phylogenetic analyses of this group.