The alfalfa weevil Hypera postica Gyllenhal (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is one of the most destructive alfalfa pests in the world, resulting in substantial economic losses. However, the amount of damage can be reduced by larval parasitoids of the genus Bathyplectes Förster (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) as a conservation biological control strategy. Parasitoids are currently identified by morphological body characteristics, cocoon morphology, and/or DNA analysis, but geometric morphometrics (GM) applied to the wing vein arrangement may also reveal differences between specimens. We distinguished 61 B. anurus (Thomson) and 41 B. curculionis (Thomson) specimens, based on the appearance of the cocoon. GM revealed statistically significant differences in wing vein patterns and fore wing shapes between species, but not between sexes within the same species. The 1 M + 1R1 cell, also known as the horsehead cell, was revealed to be an easy and reliable morphological character for species differentiation. Despite the New World literature, this is the first European report providing a visual method to differentiate B. anurus from B. curculionis. This study highlights the importance of precise species identification methods, such as geometric morphometry. It can contribute to a better implementation of biological control strategies against the alfalfa weevil in Spain and other Mediterranean countries.

Identifying use-related residues from stone artefacts has become increasingly important in determining starchy plant exploitation over time and in different locales. Standard methods for processing residues samples are widely available but there is no clear consensus on suitable methods for attributing unknown starch grains to known plant taxa. We revisit the case study of a flaked stone artefact (K/76/S29B) recovered from Phase 1 (c. 10,000 ka) at Kuk Swamp in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Starch grains from taro (Colocasia esculenta) were identified in the residue extraction, but there were other grains that could not be attributed a plant origin at that time. The new analysis applied robust statistical methods, categorial attributes and expert input. In addition to C. esculenta, kudzu bean (Pueraria montana var. lobata) was identified, representing the earliest use of kudzu bean in the PNG highlands. Importantly, we also determined that starch grains from C. esculenta and Dioscorea esculenta are morphologically indistinguishable. We turned to other attributes of potential contributing plant taxa in determining distinguishing features: habit/growing requirements; the sedimentary context of the archaeological find; and environmental settings. Cultural use of both plants, artefacts and artefact technologies can be critical elements in confident identification outcomes, as exemplified here.

Research published in the last decade, which has provided data from both technological and morphometrical analyses of lithic points from southeastern and southern Brazil and Uruguay, suggests that there is much more cultural diversity among hunter-gatherers during the Early to Mid-Holocene than previously suggested by the Umbu Tradition model. Some of these studies have suggested new archaeological cultures and new definitions of lithic industries. In this article we present new data on another lithic assemblage that we associate with the Garivaldinense lithic industry and is found at the Pedro Fridolino Schmitz site. We also present, for the first time, the definition of two new types of lithic bifacial stemmed points. Our data suggest a low-density occupation of the site from the Middle to Late Holocene (8000–1000 BP) and some variability within the Garivaldinense industry throughout time and space.

The continuous utilisation of an alternative host may influence parasitoid performance across successive generations due to conditioning in natal hosts. Tetrastichus howardi (Olliff) has successfully been reared using Tenebrio molitor L. pupae as a feasible alternative host. However, the extended rearing of T. howardi on this alternative host may impact the biological features of the parasitoids. Parasitoids were reared using T. molitor pupae for 30 consecutive generations. Quality criteria were assessed during the generations F5, F15, and F30, offering pupae of the target pest, Diatraea saccharalis (Fabr.), and compared with the F0 generation (parasitoids reared in D. saccharalis pupae). Criteria included assessments of parasitism performance, host selection, and wing form variation in the parasitoid wasps. Additionally, we examined the fecundity of T. howardi females that emerged from both hosts, considering their age, egg loading before and after one oviposition, as well as parasitism of sugarcane stalk borer pupae. Rearing T. howardi using pupae of T. molitor did not affect its biological traits or preference for the target pest for 30 generations. After parasitism, the parasitoid left the host pupa inside the stalk, and one oviposition was enough to kill D. saccharalis pupae and obtain viable parasitoid progeny. Female sexual maturation and egg loading occurred 72 and 96 h after parasitoid emergence. Egg-loading recovery after parasitism did not happen within 24 h. T. howardi can be reared for up to 30 generations using alternative hosts without compromising its parasitism performance or egg loading.

The inability to differentiate skeletal remains belonging to the ferret from those of its wild ancestor, the European polecat, presents a particular challenge for zooarchaeologists which currently hinders a better understanding of ferret domestication history. Using a geometric morphometric approach on the mandible, this study provides a new method to distinguish the two forms. Despite a small sample size and some overlap in the dataset, this method allowed the identification of a (post)medieval specimen from Mechelen (Belgium) as a wild polecat. Results demonstrate that ferrets can largely be distinguished from polecats based on mandibular morphology.

Exploring the phylogenetic signal of morphological traits using geometric morphometry represents a powerful approach to assess the relative weights of convergence and shared evolutionary history in shaping species' forms. We evaluated the phylogenetic signal in shape and size of ventral and dorsal haptoral anchors of 10 species of monogenoids (Hamatopeduncularia, Chauhanellus and Susanlimocotyle) occurring in marine catfish (Siluriformes: Ariidae) from the Atlantic coast of South America. The phylogenetic relationships among these species were mapped onto the morphospaces of shape and size of dorsal and ventral anchors. Two different tests (squared change-parsimony and Kmult) were applied to establish whether the spatial positions in the phylomorphospace were influenced by phylogenetic relationships. A significant phylogenetic signal was found between anchor form and parasite phylogeny. Allometric effects on anchor shape were non-significant. Phylogenetically distant species on the same host differed markedly in anchor morphology, suggesting little influence of host species on anchor form. A significantly higher level of shape variation among ventral anchors was also found, suggesting that the evolutionary forces shaping ventral anchor morphology may operate with differing intensities or exhibit distinct mechanisms compared to their dorsal counterparts. Our results suggest that phylogenetic relationships were a key driver of changes in shape (but not size) of anchors of monogenoids of South American ariids. However, it seems that the emergence of the digitiform haptor in Hamatopenducularia and in some species of Chauhanellus played an important role in the reduction in anchor size and may cause secondary losses of anchors in other groups of monogenoids.

Debate surrounds the identity of the Europeans who settled Iceland and Greenland in the early medieval period. Historical sources record settlers travelling from Norway to Iceland and then Greenland, but recent analyses of biological data suggest that some settlers had British and Irish ancestry. Here, the authors test these hypotheses with 3D-shape analyses of human crania from Scandinavia, Britain and Ireland, and one of the Norse colonies in Greenland. Results suggest that some 63 per cent of the ancestry of the Greenlandic individuals can be traced to Britain and Ireland and 37 per cent to Scandinavia. These findings add further weight to the idea that the European settlers who colonised Iceland and later Greenland were of mixed ancestry.

African rodents of the genus Arvicanthis are presently restricted to sub-Saharan savannas and to the Nile Valley. In contrast, their distribution during the Quaternary included most of northern Africa, leading to the emergence of local fossil species. To date, there have been no comprehensive studies of Arvicanthis populations in northern Africa, neither to clarify their taxonomy nor their paleoecology. The present study aims to explore both morphology and diet of modern and fossil Arvicanthis species using geometric morphometric and dental microwear analyses on first upper molars. The geometric morphometric analysis efficiently discriminates the studied extant and fossil Arvicanthis species and allowed for the identification of probable geographical variations within the A. niloticus group. Although all extant species of the genus Arvicanthis are predominantly grass-eaters, microwear analyses also highlighted diet differences in various modern populations of A. niloticus, as well as paleodiet inferences in the A. arambourgi fossil species, but no clear link between molar size or shape and diet can be established. This work helps set the stage for a complete revision of the fossil remains of Arvicanthis from northern African Quaternary deposits, and for a better understanding of the geographical and temporal morphological variability of this genus in Africa.

Diversas líneas de evidencia sugieren la existencia de dos rangos de acción de cazadores-recolectores en el sur de Patagonia meridional durante el Holoceno tardío: uno oriental, concentrado en el campo volcánico Pali Aike y otro occidental, localizado a lo largo de una franja relativamente longitudinal que va desde el sur de Lago Argentino hasta Última Esperanza. Mientras el uso de lascas y dacita predomina en el primero, la tecnología laminar y la explotación de lutita negra es recurrente en el segundo. Sin embargo, instrumentos de filo largo (raederas y cuchillos) sobre láminas de lutita negra también se registran, en baja frecuencia, en el campo volcánico Pali Aike y espacios asociados. Este trabajo evalúa, a través de las técnicas de morfometría geométrica, si estos instrumentos pertenecen a una misma población artefactual de acuerdo con sus características morfológicas. Los resultados no muestran diferencias morfológicas significativas entre los instrumentos laminares de lutita negra según su área de hallazgo (oriental versus occidental). La información morfológica y otras evidencias sobre los tamaños de los instrumentos laminares y la disponibilidad de lutita negra, cuyas principales fuentes de aprovisionamiento se localizan en el área occidental, abren la discusión sobre distintos mecanismos de interacción poblacional involucrados en la dispersión de estos artefactos.

Fluting is a technological and morphological hallmark of some of the most iconic North American Paleoindian stone points. Through decades of detailed artifact analyses and replication experiments, archaeologists have spent considerable effort reconstructing how flute removals were achieved, and they have explored possible explanations of why fluting was such an important aspect of early point technologies. However, the end of fluting has been less thoroughly researched. In southern North America, fluting is recognized as a diagnostic characteristic of Clovis points dating to approximately 13,000 cal yr BP, the earliest widespread use of fluting. One thousand years later, fluting occurs more variably in Dalton and is no longer useful as a diagnostic indicator. How did fluting change, and why did point makers eventually abandon fluting? In this article, we use traditional 2D measurements, geometric morphometric (GM) analysis of 3D models, and 2D GM of flute cross sections to compare Clovis and Dalton point flute and basal morphologies. The significant differences observed show that fluting in Clovis was highly standardized, suggesting that fluting may have functioned to improve projectile durability. Because Dalton points were used increasingly as knives and other types of tools, maximizing projectile functionality became less important. We propose that fluting in Dalton is a vestigial technological trait retained beyond its original functional usefulness.

The production of three-dimensional (3D) digital meshes of surface and computed tomographic (CT) data has become widespread in morphometric analyses of anthropological and archaeological data. Given that processing methods are not standardized, this leaves questions regarding the comparability of processed and digitally curated 3D datasets. The goal of this study was to identify those processing parameters that result in the most consistent fit between CT-derived meshes and a 3D surface model of the same human mandible. Eight meshes, each using unique thresholding and smoothing parameters, were compared to assess whole-object deviations, deviations along curves, and deviations between specific anatomical features on the surface model when compared with the CT scans using a suite of comparison points. Based on calculated gap distances, the mesh that thresholded at “0” with an applied smoothing technique was found to deviate least from the surface model, although it is not the most biologically accurate. Results have implications for aggregated studies that employ multimodal 3D datasets, and caution is recommended for studies that enlist 3D data from websites and digital repositories, particularly if processing parameters are unknown or derived for studies with different research foci.

Eurypterids (sea scorpions) are a group of extinct, marine euchelicerates that have an extensive Palaeozoic record. Despite lacking a biomineralised exoskeleton, eurypterids are abundantly preserved within select deposits. These collections make statistical analyses comparing the morphology of different genera possible. However, eurypterid shape has not yet been documented with modern geometric morphometric tools. Here, we summarise the previous statistical assessments of eurypterid morphology and expand this research by presenting landmark and semi-landmark analyses of 115 eurypterid specimens within the suborder Eurypterina. We illustrate that lateral compound eye morphology and position drives specimen placement in morphospace and separates proposed apex predators from more generalist forms. Additionally, evidence for size clusters in Eurypterus that may reflect ontogeny is uncovered. We highlight the use of geometric morphometric analyses in supporting the naming of new taxa and demonstrate that these shape data represent a novel means of understanding inter-generic ontogenetic trajectories and uncovering developmental changes within the diverse euarthropod group.

Projectile points are a common subject of archaeological study. In the past decade, landmark-based geometric morphometrics (LGM) has increasingly been used to analyze points as whole objects. LGM and other studies document allometric changes in points—change in shape with change in size—as a product of resharpening. Allometry registers in part because different segments or modules of points are subject to different degrees of resharpening, with blades often experiencing more reduction than stems. Different modules retain varying degrees of morphological integrity as points move through their use lives. Most previous LGM studies involved two-dimensional point models, and few tested directly for modularity. We apply LGM methods to three-dimensional models of Folsom point replicas whose degree and pattern of reduction are known, finding evidence for both allometry and modularity, with modest integration. Complementary non-LGM data reveal similar results, indicating a robust pattern and ways to approximate LGM results in other data. Moreover, our dataset's experimental control clearly identifies the results as a function of the progressive reduction in use experienced by points.

Despite intensive research, evolutionary psychology has not yet reached a consensus regarding the association between sexual dimorphism and attractiveness. This study examines associations between perceived and morphological facial sexual dimorphism and perceived attractiveness in samples from five distant countries (Cameroon, Colombia, Czechia, Iran and Turkey). We also examined possible moderating effects of skin lightness, averageness, age, body mass and facial width. Our results suggest that in all samples, women's perceived femininity was positively related to their perceived attractiveness. Women found perceived masculinity in men attractive only in Czechia and Colombia, two distant populations. The association between perceived sexual dimorphism and attractiveness is thus potentially universal only for women. Across populations, morphological sexual dimorphism and averageness are not universally associated with either perceived facial sexual dimorphism or attractiveness. With our exploratory approach, results highlight the need for control of which measure of sexual dimorphism is used (perceived or measured) because they affect perceived attractiveness differently. Morphological averageness and sexual dimorphism are not good predictors of perceived attractiveness. It is noted that future studies should use samples from multiple populations to allow for identification of specific effects of local environmental and socioeconomic conditions on preferred traits in unmanipulated local facial stimuli.

Fruit shape is the result of the interaction between genetic, epigenetic, environmental factors and stochastic processes. As a core biological descriptor both for taxonomy and horticulture, the point at which shape stability is reached becomes paramount in apple cultivar identification, and authentication in commerce. Twelve apple cultivars were sampled at regular intervals from anthesis to harvest over two growing seasons. Linear and geometric morphometrics were analysed to establish if and when shape stabilised and whether fruit asymmetry influenced this. Shape stability was detected in seven cultivars, four asymmetric and three symmetric. The remaining five did not stabilise. Shape stability, as defined here, is cultivar-dependent, and when it occurs, it is late in the growing season. Geometric morphometrics detected stability more readily than linear, especially in symmetric cultivars. Key shape features are important in apple marketing, giving the distinctness and apparent uniformity between cultivars expected at point of sale.

Diaphorina is a species-rich genus, native to the tropics and subtropics of the Old World, particularly of more arid regions. One of the species, Diaphorina citri, is the economically most important pest of citrus. Diaphorina species are morphologically similar which makes their identification difficult. In this study, the accuracy of DNA barcoding, using mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI), geometric morphometrics of the forewing and digital image processing methods were tested for identification of the three Diaphorina species: D. chobauti, D. citri and D. zygophylli. Moreover, the published COI sequences of D. citri, D. communis and D. lycii obtained from Genbank were used for cluster analyses. DNA barcodes for D. chobauti and D. zygophylli are deposited in Genbank for the first time. The results of the molecular and geometric morphometric analyses are congruent and place D. chobauti as the sister taxon of the other Diaphorina species. The geometric morphometric analysis shows that in D. zygophylli the fore margin is slightly curved proximally and sharply bent distally, while in D. chobauti and D. citri it is straight proximally and weakly bent distally. The results of digital image processing show that the distribution of the dark pattern differs consistently in the three studied species.

The EVOSHEEP project combines archaeozoology, geometric morphometrics and genetics to study archaeological sheep assemblages dating from the sixth to the first millennia BC in eastern Africa, the Levant, the Anatolian South Caucasus, the Iranian Plateau and Mesopotamia. The project aims to understand changes in the physical appearance and phenotypic characteristics of sheep and how these related to the appearance of new breeds and the demand for secondary products to supply the textile industry.

The shape (derived from landmark-based geometric morphometrics), condition (Fulton index) and diet (determined through gut content analysis) were described for the pike icefish Champsocephalus esox (Channichthyidae) from Última Esperanza sound, south-west Patagonia, Chile. Based on the length-weight relationship, females were heavier at length than males. Nevertheless, the Fulton index was similar between males and females. The morphospace of C. esox showed high intraspecific variability in the dorsoventral position of the tip of the snout, anus and the ventral insertion of the pectoral fin, as well as the anteroposterior position of the premaxilla, opercle and anus. This indicates the existence of phenotypic plasticity, leading to specimens with larger jaws and heads but shorter trunks, or specimens with shorter jaws and heads but larger trunks. This phenotypic plasticity was independent of size and sex. The feeding incidence was similar between sexes (34.1% and 47.2% for males and females, respectively). Diets consisted of only fish, small notothenioids of the genus Patagonotothen (P. tessellata, P. cornucola and P. sima), showing similarities between males and females. Finally, C. esox is the second notothenioid species, and the first outside of Antarctica, to display phenotypic plasticity in its body shape.

A través de la morfometría geométrica, este estudio explora la influencia del contexto cronológico y de procedencia en la variabilidad morfológica de 75 anzuelos de concha de Choromytilus chorus provenientes de siete sitios arqueológicos de la comuna de Taltal, en la costa sur del Desierto de Atacama, Chile. Los resultados muestran diferencias significativas en las formas de los anzuelos provenientes de distintos sitios y períodos. El rasgo que explica el mayor porcentaje de variación morfológica es el largo de una de las puntas, seguido por la abertura del anzuelo. Se identifican tres momentos clave en la evolución morfológica de estos artefactos. Entre 8500 y 7500 cal aP aparecen los primeros anzuelos, predominantemente sin vástago y de abertura amplia pero variable. De 7500 cal aP en adelante, la tecnología prolifera y se diversifica: los anzuelos sin vástago y con abertura amplia siguen predominando, pero formas con vástago y abertura media también están presentes en el kit de pesca. Finalmente, entre 5500 y 4500 cal aP el número de anzuelos disminuye, desaparecen las formas circulares y se mantienen las formas con vástago, pero con abertura más estrecha. El caso de estudio de Taltal contribuye a enriquecer el conocimiento sobre la tecnología del anzuelo en concha a lo largo del Pacífico.

Facial fluctuating asymmetry (FA), presumably a proxy measure of developmental instability, has been proposed to inversely relate to vocal attractiveness, which may convey information on heritable fitness benefits. Using an improved method of measuring facial FA, we sought to replicate two recent studies that showed an inverse correlation of facial FA with vocal attractiveness. In two samples of men (N = 165) and women (N = 157), we investigated the association of automatically measured facial FA based on 3D face scans with male and female observer-rated attractiveness of voice recordings. No significant associations were found for men or women, also when controlling for facial attractiveness, age, and body mass index. Equivalence tests show that effect sizes were significantly smaller than previous meta-analytic effects, providing robust evidence against a link of facial FA with vocal attractiveness. Thus, our study contradicts earlier findings that vocal attractiveness may signal genetic quality in humans via an association with FA.