Degree Name
MS (Master of Science)
Program
Geosciences
Date of Award
8-2012
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Steven C. Wallace
Committee Members
James I. Mead, Blaine W. Schubert
Abstract
Guy Wilson Cave (GWC) in Sullivan County, Tennessee holds many late Pleistocene mammal fossils. Based on visual morphology, several partial mandibles with lower carnassial from GWC appeared to be musteloids. Geometric morphometrics has been successfully used to identify fragmentary fossils, so a landmark based, 2 dimensional technique was applied to identify the GWC musteloids using the lower carnassial. Digital images of several GWC fossils and of extant reference musteloids were combined using morphometric programs tpsDIG1, tpsUtil, and tpsSuper. Statistical data analysis was performed in PASW Statistics. Results successfully separated Mephitis mephitis (striped skunk) from M. macroura (hooded skunk) and Martes americana (American marten) from M. pennanti (fisher). Sex-based and geographical patterns were also found in the data. Sex separated all three species via the lower carnassial. Geographic divisions were found for Mephitis mephitis, Martes americana and M. pennanti populations that hint at interestingly unique biogeographical histories for each taxon.
Document Type
Thesis - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Christine, Joel Alvin, "Landmark Analysis of Musteloid Carnassials Applied to Taxonomic Identification and Examination of Sexual Dimorphism and Regional Morphotypes" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1452. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1452
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.