The ability to disperse is one of the most important factors influencing the biogeography of species and speciation processes. Highly mobile species have been shown to lack geographic population structures, whereas less mobile species show genetically strongly subdivided populations which are expected to also display at least subtle phenotypic differences. Geometric morphometric methods (GMM) were now used to analyze morphological differences between European populations of a presumed non-phoretic, little mobile mite species in comparison to a highly mobile, phoretic species. The non-phoretic species Scutacarus carinthiacus showed a phenotypic population structure, whereas the phoretic species S. acarorum displayed homogeneity. These different patterns most probably can be explained by different levels of gene flow due to different dispersal abilities of the two species. GMM proved to be a sensitive tool that is especially recommendable for the analysis of (old) museum material and/or specimens in microscopic slides, which are not suitable for molecular genetic analysis.

分散能力是影响物种和物种形成过程的生物地理学的最重要因素之一。高流动性物种已显示缺乏地理种群结构，而流动性较弱的物种显示出遗传上高度细分的种群，预计它们也将至少表现出细微的表型差异。现在，使用几何形态计量学方法（GMM）来分析假定的非移动性，移动性极小的螨虫物种与高移动性，电泳性物种之间的欧洲种群之间的形态学差异。非表象物种Scutacarus carinthiacus表现出表型种群结构，而表象物种S. acarorum显示同质性。由于两种物种的分散能力不同，这些不同的模式很可能可以通过不同水平的基因流动来解释。GMM被证明是一种灵敏的工具，特别推荐用于分析（旧）博物馆材料和/或显微镜载玻片中的标本，这些标本不适用于分子遗传分析。