02034nas a2200253   4500008004100000020001400041245011100055210006900166300001200235490000700247520117100254653002301425653001501448653002801463653001801491653002001509653002501529653001801554653001701572100002101589700001901610700002401629856012701653       2000                        eng d  a0214-135300aGeometric morphometrics, the metendosternite and its use in phylogenetics of the Scarabaeinae (Coleoptera)0 aGeometric morphometrics the metendosternite and its use in phylo  a125-1480 v143 aResults from a geometric morphometric and cladistic analysis of 20 species (including 4 flightless species) of the Scarabaeinae (Scarabaeidae: Coleoptera) were compared. The metendosternite has largely been neglected in past morphological studies but proved to be very useful because of its easily identifiable landmarks. These landmarks were analyzed in a geometric morphometric analysis, where a Procrustes distance matrix and a dendrogram were produced. A relative warp analysis was also performed on the data and the results of the first two relative warps plotted against one another. The dendrogram clearly distinguished the flightless species from the flighted and it is hypothesized that three lineages of flightless taxa convergently underwent similar alterations in the reduction in metendosternite size. The cladistics study utilized 200 internal and external morphological characters, including 20 based on the metendosternite. Comparison of the cladogram with the dendrogram indicates that geometric morphometrics is a useful technique to hypothesize relationships, especially with structures that may be difficult to interpret in a cladistic analysis. 10acladistic analysis10aCOLEOPTERA10ageometric morphometrics10alandmark data10ametendosternite10aProcrustes distance.10arelative warp10aScarabaeinae1 aPretorius, Resia1 aPhilips, Keith1 aScholtz, Clarke, H.  uhttps://scarabnet.myspecies.info/geometric-morphometrics-metendosternite-and-its-use-phylogenetics-scarabaeinae-coleoptera