Comparative analysis of morphological and behavioral characters in the domestic dog and their importance in the reconstruction of phylogenetic relationships in canids

Abstract

Relationships among 25 dog breeds, classified a priori by their respective ancestral trunks, were studied using data from 29 morphological and 13 behavioral characteristics. Although a certain correlation was found between both types of traits (r = 0.13; P < 0.05), this relationship was not manifested, regarding the level of racial classification, in the obtained dendrograms. The relationships between breeds obtained from morphological data were more congruent than those obtained from behavioral data when compared with phylogenies from other sources of information (mainly electrophoretic analysis). This indicates that the morphological characters could give more and better complementary information than the behavioral ones in the reconstruction of the phylogenetic relationships of canids. The mean character difference (MCD), used as a measure of taxonomic resemblance between breeds, had a value of 0.53 (± 0.12 STD), and was of a magnitude very similar to that obtained in other domestic animal species (cattle, horse, sheep and goats), indicating that a similar degree of morphological differences between breeds of these species exists.<br>As relações entre 25 raças de cães, classificadas "a priori" pelos seus respectivos troncos ancestrais, foram estudadas usando-se dados de 29 características morfológicas e 13 comportamentais. Embora tenha sido encontrada uma certa correlação entre ambos os tipos de caracteres (r = 0.13; P < 0.05), esta relação não se manifestou, com relação ao nível de classificação racial, nos dendrogramas obtidos. As relações entre as raças obtidas dos dados morfológicos foram mais congruentes do que as obtidas dos dados comportamentais, quando comparadas com filogenias de outras fontes de informação (análise eletroforética, principalmente). Isso indica que os caracteres morfológicos poderiam fornecer informações complementares melhores e em maior número do que os caracteres comportamentais, na reconstrução das relações filogenéticas dos canídeos. A diferença média de caráter (MCD), usada como uma medida de semelhança taxonômica entre raças, teve um valor de 0,53 (± 0,12 desvios padrão) e foi de uma magnitude muito semelhante à obtida em outras espécies de animais domésticos (bovinos, eqüinos, ovinos e caprinos), indicando que existe um grau similar de diferenças morfológicas entre as raças destas espécies

Historical Introgression from Wild Relatives Enhanced Climatic Adaptation and Resistance to Pneumonia in Sheep

“…Similar morphological features have been observed between primitive domesticates and their wild ancestors of other taxa, such as Capra ( Horwitz and Bar-Gal 2006 ), Bos ( Upadhyay et al 2017 ), Equus ( Kvist et al. 2019 ; Chodkiewicz 2020 ), and Canis ( Jordana et al. 1999 ).…”

Rapid genetic diversification within dog breeds as evidenced by a case study on Schnauzers

“…To clarify the real phylogenetic relationships between canine breeds, quantitative analyses of behavioural and morphological characteristics (Jordana et al . ) and analyses based on genetic markers have been carried out (Morera et al . ; Zajc & Sampson ; Koskinen & Bredbacka ; Savolainen et al .…”

Inbreeding may affect phenotypic traits in an Italian population of Basset Hound dogs

“…A few number of study have been performed on the morphological parameters of dog breeds; these studies have been conducted with breed dogs with a very different morphology, such as Spanish water dogs (Barba Capote et al 1996), Bolognese dogs (Beretti et al 2008), Lagotto dogs (Vaccari Simonini et al 2007) and Bracco Italiano dogs (Cecchi et al 2015). Also Jordana et al (1999) had analysed several morphological and behavioural characters of a series of breeds, including Basset Hound, in order to improve the knowledge of relationships among these breeds. However, scores were assigned to each state of different characteristics in an arbitrary manner and no analytical 6 measurements were conducted.…”