Sexual dimorphism in guanacos (Lama guanicoe). An osteometric evaluation of postcranial elements
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31048/1852.4826.v2.n1.5417Keywords:
guanaco, sexual dimorphism, morphometry, pelvis, long bonesAbstract
In wild-living populations adult camelids are mainly sexed by observing their social and reproductive behavior, and on occasion, their genitalia. Both biologists and archaeologists usually assume the absence of clearly identifiable sexually dimorphic somatic and postcranial traits among adult guanaco (Lama guanicoe) specimens. The principal studies that evaluate the osteological differences between sexes in this species, had been carried out using qualitative morphological traits of the pelvis and morphometric traits of the skull. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to contribute to the development of methodological tools aimed to accurately discriminate between sexes using morphometric techniques. In addition, we assess in this paper the existence and magnitude of the postcranial sex-related morphometric differences in a sample of modern guanaco specimens from Cinco Chañares, Río Negro, Argentina. The sample was composed by 32 individuals (8 males and 24 females) older than 30 month at the age of death. Fifty one hemipelvis, 40 humeri, 39 radioulnae, 40 femora, and 41 tibiae were measured. The obtained results show that the main morphometric differences between sexes are related to size and shape variation in the whole pelvis and acetabulum. In the appendicular skeleton no statistically significant differences between sexes were found, but this ought to be reevaluated increasing sample sizes of male specimens.Downloads
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