Análise morfológica de Chelus fimbriata (Testudines: Chelidae) da região Amazônica

Abstract

The present work aimed to analyze the morphological characters of Chelus fimbriata in the Amazon region, using comparisons of the anatomical aspects of the head, carapace and plastron, considering the groupings according to the locality/type river of origin of each individual, focusing on the differences that may be related to the types of water present in the Amazon basin and/or differences by geographic region. For this purpose, an external group of Chelus orinocensis was used, and the sample (N= 46) was divided into specimens from black and white water rivers, seeking morphological divergences with a posteriori statistical analysis through principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant (DFA). Such procedures evidenced distinctions of the anatomical attributes of head, plastron and carapace, demonstrating through the groupings the presence of different characters linked to the types of waters in this given hydrographic system.