Morphological divergence associated with dietary shifts has played a major role in the phyletic radiation of many vertebrates [ 1- 5].
Morphological divergence often increases with phylogenetic distance, thus making morphology taxonomically informative.
To determine if there was morphological divergence in line with geographic isolation and genetic differentiation, we used a quantitative morphometric approach to compare skeletal characteristics of D. dianthus from a subset of specimens from the three geographic regions.
Similar morphological plasticity in other dinosaurian groups (e.g., hadrosaurids) has typically been interpreted in relation to behavior, although often behavior and morphological divergence are correlated with phylogeny [46], and it can be difficult to tease apart the influences of phylogeny and behavior on morphology.
Maximum morphological divergence occurs but with low levels of observable genetic diversity (Frankham 1997).
Finally, we assess genetic variation among our study populations to test whether the patterns of morphological divergence are congruent with patterns of genetic divergence.
Similar studies of fishes mainly focused on intralacustrine (within-lake) morphological divergence and resource polymorphism, with specialization on benthic food usually associated with a preference for littoral habitats with high structural complexity.
Second, using a geometric morphometrics technique, we tested the morphological divergence among local populations with respect to head and body shape, which are crucial for prey capture and locomotion in fish.
In Palmorchestia, the independent evolution of populations for a considerable evolutionary time and fast molecular evolution are apparently uncoupled with morphological divergence.
Regulators play a role in a number of different processes, following the principles of " Mosaic pleiotropy" (the same proteins contribute to different developmental processes and body structures), and " Heterotopy" (changes in spatial regulation are associated with morphological divergence).
