The purpose of this study is to examine, by factor analysis and matrix congruence procedures, the relationship between genetic divergence and morphometric patterns among four chromosomal races of morabine grasshoppers. Determination of the amount of change in body form or shape that has occurred as a function of evolutionary divergence among closely related taxa is of considerable importance to many disciplines of biology including systematics, evolutionary genetics and developmental biology. Unfortunately, shape is a rather nebulous concept as evidenced by the wide variety of coefficients, indices and statistical procedures that have been proposed to describe variation (Pearson, 1926; Penrose, 1947, 1954; Jolicoeur and Mosimann, 1960; Jolicoeur, 1963; Rao, 1964; Burnaby, 1966; Vasicek and Jicin, 1971; Sprent, 1972; Spielmann, 1973). Quite obviously, the shape of an organism is the result of complex interactions of numerous morphometric variables and, as a result, the analysis of can only be accomplished using techniques that simultaneously consider the variation in large numbers of variables. Two interrelated problems, however, have hindered the multivariate analysis of shape. First, a workable definition had been lacking as to what constitutes and shape components of variation. Secondly, considerable difference of opinion exists among biologists as to the best quantitative methods for partitioning out the respective size and patterns. Mosimann (1970) partially resolved the first problem when he provided a generalized definition of size and shape. Assuming a random vector of body measurements (X1 ...., XmQ) measured in the same scale and associated with each individual in the population, Mosimann defined a variable as a dimensioned variable such as :X, (IIX)/l or simply any single Xi. A shape variable on the other hand, he defined as a dimensionless variable such as (Xi/Xm,. .. Xm i/Xm) or (Xi/:X, .... Xm/:X). Before considering what we believe to be the appropriate quantitative model for analyzing shape, consider the fundamental questions that must be answered in a comparative analysis of variation. These include: 1) What are the major patterns of variation within each taxon? 2) To what extent have these patterns become altered among closely related taxa? Within the framework of this question, we are interested not only in the relative contribution of the various individual variables to each pattern but also the relationships among the major patterns themselves. As noted above, a number of quantitative procedures have been proposed to study variation; however, some of these, such as canonical variate analysis and distance statistics, are incapable of answering the aforementioned two questions. Canonical variate analysis, as employed by Blackith and Blackith (1969), is inappropriate because one can not determine the patterns of variation within the various groups nor do the canonical variates repre-
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