Table 2.

Comparison of the shell morphology of the four most utilized gastropod shell types and the two hermit crab species

	PC 1	PC 2	PC 3
Shell length	− 0.396	0.784	0.080
Shell width	− 0.485	− 0.265	0.016
Aperture length	− 0.438	− 0.078	− 0.851
Aperture width	− 0.437	− 0.526	0.362
Shell weight	− 0.472	0.174	0.370
Shell thickness	− 0.329	− 0.804	0.046
Cerithiid shells	0.874 (A)	0.765 (A)	0.372 (A)
Nassariid shells	0.839 (A)	− 0.200 (B)	0.268 (A)
Naticid shells	− 1.198 (B)	− 1.189 (C)	0.056 (B)
Strombid shells	− 1.195 (B)	0.384 (D)	− 0.791 (C)
Coenobita rugosus	0.151 (A)	− 0.134 (A)	0.046 (A)
Coenobita perlatus	− 0.479 (B)	0.424 (B)	− 0.146 (B)

Principal components (PC) of the PCA are based on five morphometric parameters of the four utilized gastropod shell types. Significant differences between the mean PC values for each shell type are indicated by different letters behind the PC value, same letters indicate no statistical difference between the PC values of the respective shell types