Morphological Variation of Pelodytes caucasicus Boulenger, 1896 (Anura: Pelodytidae) from Turkey
Abstract
The Parsley frog is represented by single species from Anatolia which is called Pelodytes caucasicus. This species is categorized as a near threatened in the conservation list and has very limited distribution along the North East Black Sea and its populations have been poorly studied. In this study, we analyzed morphological variation of 59 specimens from different localities from Anatolia (Artvin; Karagöl, Rize; Çat and Trabzon; Hıdırnebi) unraveled the differences among P. caucasicus populations. For this purpose, we used multivariate analysis such as principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Although there was considerable overlap among morphological variation of localities according to PCA analysis, slight differences were observed in LDA analysis. In PCA analysis, the HW, HL, and SVL are primarily discriminating characters for P. caucasicus. In LDA analysis, the NL, HW, and HL are primarily discriminating characters. This study will contribute to the limited data of P. caucasicus and enlarge the knowledge of geographic variation for P. caucasicus in Anatolia.
Keywords
Caucasian , P. caucasicus , morphometric differences , Turkey
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