Meeting Abstract
Morphometrics have been used for decades to answer functional morphology questions, especially with regards to skeletal structures. Many studies used linear measurements, although landmark based geometric morphometric datasets are becoming more common. However, even with this approach, a large amount of variation is missed due to the complex three dimensional shape of a bone. Areas of great functional interest, e.g. articulation surfaces and muscle scars, are reduced to very few landmarks. Members of the order Carnivora have been extensively studied with regards to skeletal adaptations to locomotion. However, the majority of studies have neglected to address the foot posture of the species in question. Plantigrade species lack the specializations for cursoriality present in digitigrade animals, but this leads to many more adaptations for other modes of locomotion, such as swimming and digging. The forelimbs of species with this plantigrade posture are of special interest due to their increased dexterity and ability to manipulate objects. This study aims to identify and quantify the areas of forelimb long bones that characterize locomotor mode in plantigrade carnivorans using 3-D geometric morphometrics. Data were collected from the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, the Idaho Museum of Natural History, Idaho State University, and the Charles R. Conner Museum, Washington State University. Three-dimensional laser surface scans were taken of the scapula, humerus, ulna and radius for one specimen of each of fifteen species. Preliminary analysis of results suggests that the 3-D approach of this study is capable of categorizing species with similar accuracy as 2-D analyses but is able to identify new areas of interest for comparative studies.
