Rev. Écol. (Terre Vie), vol. 62, 2007.
– 73 – SEXUAL SIZE DIMORPHISM, MORPHOMETRY AND PHENOTYPIC VARIATION IN THE WHIP SNAKE HIEROPHIS VIRIDIFLAVUS FROM A CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN AREA Sara FORNASIERO1,2, Claudia CORTI3, Luca LUISELLI4 & Marco A. L. ZUFFI1,5
An organism’s external morphology is the result of the interaction between the organism itself and the environment in which it lives (Seigel & Collins, 1993; Greene, 1997). Body size, together with several other external characteristics, strongly infl uences an organism’s life,
1 Museum of Natural History and Territory, University of Pisa, via Roma 79, I-56011 Calci (Pisa), Italy
2 Present address Department of Biology (Protistology-Zoology unit), via Volta 6, I-56100 Pisa, Italy
3 Department of Animal Biology and Genetics, University of Florence, via Romana 17, I-50125 Florence, Italy
4 Istituto di Studi Ambientali “ Demetra” (E. N. I. S. p. A., Environmental Dep.), via dei Cochi 48/ b, I-00133 Rome, Italy and Department of Applied and Environmental Biology, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, P. M. B. 5080, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
5 Reference author. E-mail : marcoz@ museo. unipi. it
