Growth and Intensity of Integration through Postnatal Growth in the Skull of Sigmodon fulviventer

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Abstract
We examined the degree to which measurements of the skull and jaw are interdependent at six ages of Sigmodon fulviventer. The extent to which measurements are interdependent varies throughout growth, generally increasing until puberty, when it declines to pre-pubescent levels. Growth and other factors explain variable proportions of integration. Our measurements do not sample only longitudinal and transverse axes of the skull, thus factors other than growth contribute significantly to the overall interdependence of our measurements. The skull does not appear to be a single integrated unit. Characters of the orofacial complex often were integrated more highly than those of the neurocranial region and than those of the skull as a whole.