Geometric Morphometric Analysis on the skull of the Red Fox (Vulpes Vulpes)

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the shape of the fox skull by the geometric morphometric method according to gender. For this purpose, four female and nine male fox skulls were used. The skulls were photographed from the dorsal and lateral aspects. Eleven homologous landmarks on the dorsal aspect and 19 homologous landmarks on the lateral aspect were marked on the photographs of the skull. Principal component analysis and Relative warp analysis were performed on the coordinate values of the images. In addition, MorphoJ software was used to determine the shape differences and directions of the landmarks. According to principal component analysis, male and female individuals were mainly concentrated to the y axis’s right on lateral images, and female and male individuals were not concentrated in one region on dorsal images. Therefore, according to the principal component analysis, no significant gender difference was found. The consensus graph determined that the oral edge of the incisive tooth and the cranial edge of the canine tooth in females were ventrally directed compared to males. It is thought that the findings obtained as a result of the study will contribute to zooarchaeological and taxonomic research.