APPLICATION OF TWO INTERESTING STATISTICAL TOOLS, USED IN DIFFERENTIATION OF CLOSELY RELATED SPECIES OF Cornudiscoides KULKARNI, 1969 (PLATYHELMINTHES: MONOGENOIDEA: DACTYLOGYRIDAE)

A novel method is used to represent multivariate data as cartoon faces (Chernoff faces) for evaluation of inter-specific and intra-specific variations. Linear Discriminant Analysis has also been performed for classifying them. Five hundred specimens, belonging to nine species of the genus Cornudiscoides viz. C. geminus C. agarwali, C. tukarami, C. bleekerai, C. mystusi, C. sclerovaginalis, C. longicirrus, C. aori, Cornudiscoides n. sp. and one species of the genus Bifurcohaptor (B. indicus) were chosen and their morphometric data are subjected to statistical analysis. Ten sets of obtained Chernoff faces expressing differently in all the species, proving them distinct at a specific level. Being a different genus, B. indicus shows a significant difference.