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Mating System, Breeding Success, and Pup Mortality of a Habitat Specialist Rodent: A Field and Molecular-based Approach J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2021-04-05 Alejandro Centeno-Cuadros, Jacinto Román, Amaia Sánchez-Recuero, María Lucena-Pérez, Miguel Delibes, José A. Godoy
Mating systems are studied due to their interest in ecology and evolution. In rodents, mating strategies have been inferred from the spatio-temporal arrangement of males and females, and breeding success has usually been estimated through the number of embryos counted by palpation of pregnant females. However, these might not be trustable proxies to describe the mating systems and to estimate survival
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Paleoecological Inferences from Long Bone Microanatomical Specializations in Hippopotamoidea (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2021-03-13 Alexandra Houssaye, Florian Martin, Jean-Renaud Boisserie, Fabrice Lihoreau
Hippopotamoids are herbivorous mammals that originated in the late middle Eocene. This taxon includes animals with a great variety of sizes and body proportions, from small and gracile forms with slender limbs to heavy massive ones. Many hippopotamoids have previously been considered semi-aquatic but recent studies have highlighted a diversity of ecologies. This study focuses on bone microanatomy,
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Hind Limb Bone Proportions Reveal Unexpected Morphofunctional Diversification in Xenarthrans J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2021-02-27 Sarah K. Marshall, Kyle B. Spainhower, Brandon T. Sinn, Thomas P. Diggins, Michael T. Butcher
Divergence in forelimb morphology is often associated with functional habits exhibited within the Xenarthra, ranging from terrestrial-digging in armadillos to arboreal-suspension in sloths. We hypothesized that quantitative differences in hind limb form also will be predictive of the diverse lifestyles observed in this small clade. A total of 26 morphofunctional indices were calculated from 42 raw
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The Dorsal Integument of the Southern Long-Nosed Armadillo Dasypus hybridus (Cingulata, Xenarthra), and a Possible Neural Crest Origin of the Osteoderms. Discussing Evolutive Consequences for Amniota J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2021-02-15 Cecilia Mariana Krmpotic, Fabián Nishida, Fernando Carlos Galliari, María Teresa Pombo, Francisco Acuña, Claudio Gustavo Barbeito, Alfredo Armando Carlini
Osteoderms are present in most tetrapod lineages with considerable lineage-specific variation. It has been hypothesized that osteoderms are a case of “deep homology” in craniates, but the embryonic origin of osteoderms -and other related postcranial exoskeletal elements- is still under debate. Most authors support its mesodermal origin, while others suggest that osteoderms are derived from neural crest
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Greater Bandicoot Rats ( Bandicota indica ) are Not Native to Sundaland Based on Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Analyses J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2021-01-11 Mohamad Azam Firdaus Saarani, Jennifer A. Leonard, Badrul Munir Md-Zain, Hasmahzaiti Omar
Bandicoot rats (genus Bandicota) are distributed widely across the Indomalay biogeographic realm of tropical East Asia. One widely distributed species, the greater bandicoot rat (Bandicota indica), has a disjunct distribution including both north and south of the biogeographic break at the Isthmus of Kra. We compared genetic variation of greater bandicoot rats from north and south of the Isthmus of
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Endocranial Cast Anatomy of the Extinct Hipposiderid Bats Palaeophyllophora and Hipposideros ( Pseudorhinolophus ) (Mammalia: Chiroptera) J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2021-01-08 Jacob Maugoust, Maeva J. Orliac
Bat fossil endocasts have been little studied in the literature (nine published works, only one in the XXIth century), and macromorphology of the brain of extant bats has only been characterized at the family-level. We describe here in detail the endocranial casts of four fossil hipposiderid species based on μCT-scans data and propose a revised nomenclature of the hipposiderid brain structures that
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Evolutionary Trends of Protypotherium (Interatheriidae, Notoungulata) Lineage throughout the Miocene of South America J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2021-01-07 Alejo C. Scarano, Bárbara Vera, Marcelo Reguero
Protypotherium (Mammalia, Notoungulata, lnteratheriinae) is a well-known and very diverse genus of extinct native ungulates of South America, widely distributed from southern to middle latitudes of Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia. This genus exhibits distinctive species throughout the Miocene to the beginning of the Pliocene that display an interesting size pattern. The large sample of specimens studied
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Myological and Osteological Correlates of Hindfoot Reversal in the Kinkajou ( Potos flavus ) J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2021-01-03 Shelby Fields Marsh, Kevin Manfredi, Heather F. Smith
The kinkajou (Potos flavus) is a South and Central American procyonid that can plantarflex and invert its hindfoot around multiple joints in order to fully reverse the hindfoot 180°. However, the myological and osteological adaptions that facilitate this behavior have not been quantified metrically. Osteological correlates of hindfoot reversal have been described in the past, but recent advances in
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Systematics and the Unexpected High Mitochondrial Genetic Divergence of Nelsonia goldmani (Rodentia: Cricetidae) from Mexican Highlands J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2021-01-03 M. Ángel León-Tapia, Fernando A. Cervantes
Nelsonia is a Mexican endemic genus of woodrat and includes only two uncommon species: N. neotomodon and N. goldmani. This genus is of great phylogenetic interest, but has been ignored in most taxonomic studies and revisions due to the scarcity of its representatives in museum collections. The phylogenetic position of this genus is poorly known, and its interspecific and intraspecific relationships
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Correction to: Hind Foot Drumming: Muscle Architecture of the Hind Limb in Three Bathyergidae Species J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-11-24 L. Sahd, N. C. Bennett, S. H. Kotzé
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-020-09531-8
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Brachiocephalic Muscular Arrangements in Cavioid Rodents (Caviomorpha): a Functional, Anatomical, and Evolutionary Study J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-11-13 César M. García-Esponda, Ana R. Calanoce, Adriana M. Candela
In cursorial mammals, reduction or loss of the clavicle is usually associated with the constitution of the m. brachiocephalicus, a continuous muscle that extends from head and neck regions to the forelimb, protracting it during locomotion. Among caviomorph rodents, the Cavioidea are characterized by many adaptations that improve running performance, such as the presence of a brachiocephalic configuration
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Locomotor Behavior and Body Mass of Paramys delicatus (Ischyromyidae, Rodentia) and Commentary on Other Early North American Paramyines J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-11-09 Kristen A. Prufrock, Christopher B. Ruff, Kenneth D. Rose
Paramyine ischyromyids are one of the first ancestral rodent groups to appear in North America. Studying ecological indicators of these extinct animals enables us to better understand how they integrated into North American mammalian communities. In this study we reassess the locomotor behavior of a nearly complete skeleton of a paramyine, Paramys delicatus (AMNH FM 12506), using functional limb indices
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A Geometric Morphometric Analysis of Geographic Mandibular Variation in the Dwarf Gerbil Gerbillus nanus (Gerbillinae, Rodentia) J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-11-10 Bader H. Alhajeri
Previous studies have demonstrated the pliability and adaptability of mammalian mandibles in response to different ecological demands such as food availability. The dwarf gerbil Gerbillus nanus has a wide distribution in Asia in which it encounters varied environments. These varied environments can house different food resources and it would be adaptively advantageous for the opportunistic rodents
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Forelimb Bone Morphology and its Association with Foraging Ecology in Four Families of Neotropical Bats J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-11-07 Mariano S. Sánchez, Luz V. Carrizo
The form-function paradigm postulates the existence of a correlation between form and function; a remarkable example of this is the transformation of the forelimb of bats into wings. The wings of bats are complex structures made of membranes, muscles, tendons, cartilages, bones, and joints. Forelimb bones are critical elements of wings because they form an essential part of the alar mass, serve to
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Hind Foot Drumming: Muscle Architecture of the Hind Limb in Three Bathyergidae Species J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-10-22 L. Sahd, N. C. Bennett, S. H. Kotzé
The relationship between muscle architectural properties and hind foot drumming of African mole-rats has yet to be determined using established methodology. Therefore, the internal structure of 32 hind limb muscles was evaluated in two drumming and one non-drumming species of Bathyergidae. The muscle mass (MM), fascicle length (Lf), and angle of pennation were measured to calculate the physiological
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Form-Function Correlation Paradigm in Mammalogy. A Tribute to Leonard B. Radinsky (1937–1985) J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-10-21 Guillermo H. Cassini, Néstor Toledo, Sergio F. Vizcaíno
This special issue of the Journal of Mammalian Evolution represents the proceedings from a symposium held in conjunction with the XXXI Jornadas Argentinas de Mastozoología (SAREM, La Rioja, Argentina, October 25, 2018), and entitled “El paradigma de correlación forma-función en mastozoología: un tributo a Leonard Radinsky (1937–1985).” In this introduction to the symposium proceedings, we provide a
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Bite Force in Four Pinniped Species from the West Coast of Baja California, Mexico, in Relation to Diet, Feeding Strategy, and Niche Differentiation J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-10-20 Rocío Andrea Franco-Moreno, P. David Polly, Viviana Toro-Ibacache, Gustavo Hernández-Carmona, Rosalía Aguilar-Medrano, Emigdio Marín-Enríquez, Víctor Hugo Cruz-Escalona
Behavioral foraging differences are known to aid in food resource partitioning in pinniped communities, but it is not known whether skull biomechanical efficiency also contributes to dietary niche partitioning. We tested this hypothesis in a community of four sympatric species of pinnipeds that co-occur along the coast of Baja California: California sea lion (Zalophus californianus), northern elephant
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Three-Dimensional and Histological Observations on Male Genital Organs of Greater Horseshoe Bat, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-10-19 Joon Hyuk Sohn, Dai Fukui, Taro Nojiri, Kazuhiro Minowa, Junpei Kimura, Daisuke Koyabu
Anatomy of bat genital organs has been conventionally studied by gross and microscopic observations to date. Here, we employ both histological observation and diceCT (diffusible iodine-based contrast-enhanced computed tomography) to study the detailed three-dimensional morphological structure of the male genital organs in bats, using the greater horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum. This is the
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The Skeleton of the Manus of Scelidotherium (Xenarthra, Mylodontidae) Specimens from the Pleistocene of the Province of Córdoba, Argentina, and its Systematic Implications J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-10-16 Gastón L. Nieto, J. Augusto Haro, H. Gregory McDonald, Ángel R. Miño-Boilini, Adan A. Tauber, Jerónimo M. Krapovickas, Maximiliano N. Fabianelli, Federico M. Rosas
Dental and craniomandibular data have been predominantly used to infer relationships among mylodontid ground sloths. Recent studies indicate the osteology of the manus also provides useful data to test phylogenetic relationships in mylodontine mylodontids. Here we provide new comparative data from the study of the manus of a member of the Scelidotheriinae, Scelidotherium Owen, 1839, based on specimens
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Suidae Transition at the Miocene-Pliocene Boundary: a Reassessment of the Taxonomy and Chronology of Propotamochoerus provincialis J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-10-06 Alessio Iannucci, Marco Cherin, Leonardo Sorbelli, Raffaele Sardella
The Miocene-Pliocene (Turolian-Ruscinian) transition represents a fundamental interval in the evolution of Euro-Mediterranean paleocommunities. In fact, the paleoenvironmental changes connected with the end of the Messinian salinity crisis are reflected by a major renewal in mammal faunal assemblages. An important bioevent among terrestrial large mammals is the dispersal of the genus Sus, which replaced
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Late Quaternary Environmental and Human Impacts on the Mitochondrial DNA Diversity of Four Commensal Rodents in Myanmar J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-09-24 San Maung Maung Theint, Thidalay Thwe, Khin Myat Myat Zaw, Tomofumi Shimada, Saw Bawm, Motoko Kobayashi, Khin Maung Saing, Ken Katakura, Satoru Arai, Hitoshi Suzuki
We addressed the spatiotemporal characteristics of four commensal rodent species occurring in Myanmar in comparison with other areas of the Indo-Malayan region. We examined sequence variations of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (Cytb) in the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans), roof rat (Rattus rattus complex, RrC), lesser bandicoot rat (Bandicota bengalensis), and house mouse (Mus musculus) using the
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Tracing the Paleobiology of Paedotherium and Tremacyllus (Pachyrukhinae, Notoungulata), the Latest Sciuromorph South American Native Ungulates – Part II: Orbital, Auditory, and Occipito-Cervical Regions J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-09-22 Marcos D. Ercoli, Alicia Álvarez, Dionisios Youlatos, S. Rocío Moyano, Adriana M. Candela
The caudal cranium and occipito-cervical region, although usually overlooked, are informative about the paleobiology of fossil mammals, allowing inquiry into vision and hearing abilities, as well as head and neck postures. Particularly for Pachyrukhinae, some related features remain unexplored. In this contribution, 22 specimens of Paedotherium and Tremacyllus were analyzed in a mainly qualitative
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Modern Northern Domestic Horses Carry Mitochondrial DNA Similar to Przewalski’s Horse J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-09-05 Laura Kvist, Markku Niskanen
Several recent studies have suggested past gene flow between the Przewalski’s horse and modern domestic horse and questioned the wild origin of the Przewalski’s horse. Mitochondrial DNA has placed representatives of the Przewalski’s horse into three among the eighteen haplogroups detected from the modern horse. Of these, two haplogroups have so far been found exclusively in the Przewalski’s horse,
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Tracing the Paleobiology of Paedotherium and Tremacyllus (Pachyrukhinae, Notoungulata), the Latest Sciuromorph South American Native Ungulates – Part I: Snout and Masticatory Apparatus J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-09-05 Marcos D. Ercoli, Alicia Álvarez, S. Rocío Moyano, Dionisios Youlatos, Adriana M. Candela
Inquiring into the paleoecology of extinct forms is always a challenge, particularly when the taxa under study correspond to derived ecomorphs of ancient and completely extinct clades. In this contribution, the configuration of the masticatory apparatus and associated features of the Neogene pachyrukhines Paedotherium and Tremacyllus are studied in a detailed, mainly qualitative, comparative analysis
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Earliest Embrithopod Mammals (Afrotheria, Tethytheria) from the Early Eocene of Morocco: Anatomy, Systematics and Phylogenetic Significance J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-08-22 Emmanuel Gheerbrant, Fatima Khaldoune, Arnaud Schmitt, Rodolphe Tabuce
We provide detailed morphological description, including enamel microstructure, of the earliest known embrithopod mammals (Afrotheria, Paenungulata), Stylolophus minor and S. major, n. sp., recently discovered in the early Eocene of the Ouled Abdoun phosphate basin, Morocco. Stylolophus minor and S. major, n. sp., show close morphological affinity, and the enamel microstructure supports their congeneric
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Clinal and Allometric Variation in the Skull of Sexually Dimorphic Opossums J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-08-10 Jamile Bubadué, Carlo Meloro, Carla Hendges, Thaís Battistella, Renan Carvalho, Nilton Cáceres
Three species of sexually-dimorphic opossums are broadly distributed across South America: the habitat generalist Didelphis albiventris, the Atlantic forest-dweller D. aurita, and the Amazonian forest-dweller D. marsupialis. We used 2D geometric morphometrics to quantify skull size and shape variation in the three opossum species and test the hypothesis that degrees of sexual dimorphism and morphological
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Allometry and Ontogeny in the Vertebral Column of Southern Hemisphere Dolphins: a 3D Morphofunctional Approach J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-08-10 María Constanza Marchesi, Matías S. Mora, Silvana L. Dans, Rolamdo González-José
Commerson’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus commersonii), Peale’s dolphin (Lagenorhynchus australis), dusky dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obscurus), and hourglass dolphin (Lagenorhynchus cruciger) are closely related species occurring in the Southern Hemisphere. Even though they are partially sympatric, they have evolved towards diverse foraging strategies, prey, and habitat preferences. Size variation occurs both
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Locomotion in Rodents and Small Carnivorans: Are they So Different? J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-08-04 Nahuel A. Muñoz
Rodents and carnivorans constitute two diverse clades with variable life habits. To analyze the common ecomorphological aspects of their limbs in relation to their different substrate uses, the shape of humerus and femur was explored using 3-D geometric morphometrics. The principal components and MANOVA analyses show that the shape of the humerus is similarly related to the substrate use and taxonomy
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First Toothless Platanistoid from the Early Miocene of Patagonia: the Golden Age of Diversification of the Odontoceti J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-07-02 Mariana Viglino, C. Maximiliano Gaetán, José I. Cuitiño, Mónica R. Buono
Lower Miocene outcrops from Patagonia (Gaiman Formation, Burdigalian) may reveal more clues for the yet unknown aspects for this period in the evolution of odontocetes. Here, we present the first toothless platanistoid dolphin from the lower Miocene of Patagonia, Dolgopolis kinchikafiforo, gen. et sp. nov. The specimen includes an incomplete skull, with no mandibles or earbones, but sufficiently different
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Dental Variation in Megabats (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae): Tooth Metrics Correlate with Body Size and Tooth Proportions Reflect Phylogeny J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-07-01 Madeleine E. Zuercher, Tesla A. Monson, Rena R. Dvoretzky, Shruti Ravindramurthy, Leslea J. Hlusko
Variation in the dentition yields insight into the evolutionary history of Mammalia. However, to date, there has been limited research on the dental variation in Pteropodidae, a family of bats found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. Most species are large, diurnal, non-echolocating, and eat fruit or nectar. Pteropodids are of significant concern in conservation due to rapidly
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Functional Indices and Postnatal Ontogeny of Long Bones of the Forelimb in the Sigmodontine Rodents (Rodentia: Cricetidae) J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-06-30 Luz Valeria Carrizo, María José Tulli, Virginia Abdala
The adaptations for a particular locomotor type (e.g., fossorial or saltatorial) could affect limb bone morphology throughout ontogeny. We explore how the measurements of the forelimbs and functional indices change along the postnatal ontogeny of 92 specimens of sigmodontines belonging to four genera (Akodon, Eligmodontia, Oligoryzomys, and Oxymycterus) with different locomotor types (ambulatory,
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3D Morphometric Analysis Reveals Similar Ecomorphs for Early Kangaroos (Macropodidae) and Fanged Kangaroos (Balbaridae) from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Australia J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-06-11 Kaylene Butler, Kenny J. Travouillon, Alistair R. Evans, Laura Murphy, Gilbert J. Price, Michael Archer, Suzanne J. Hand, Vera Weisbecker
Understanding feeding ecology of extinct kangaroos is fundamental to understanding the evolution of kangaroos and the Australia paleoenvironment during the Oligo-Miocene. Comparisons with extant species have suggested that the macropodiforms of the Oligo/Miocene (kangaroos and allies) from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northern Australia, were predominantly folivorous browsers or fungivores
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Evolutionary Patterns of Mandible Shape Diversification of Caviomorph Rodents J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-06-08 Alicia Álvarez, Marcos D. Ercoli, A. Itatí Olivares, Nahuel A. De Santi, Diego H. Verzi
Caviomorphs are a mainly South American rodent clade with high taxonomic and ecomorphological diversity. In this study, we combine geometric morphometric, functional, ancestral reconstruction, and macroevolutionary analyses to quantify the magnitude, direction, and rates of shape diversification of the caviomorph mandible, and to explore the morpho-functional implications and potential ecological catalysts
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Evolution of the Mammalian Neck from Developmental, Morpho-Functional, and Paleontological Perspectives J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-06-04 Patrick Arnold
The mammalian neck adopts a variety of postures during daily life and generates numerous head trajectories. Despite its functional diversity, the neck is constrained to seven cervical vertebrae in (almost) all mammals. Given this low number, an unexpectedly high degree of modularity of the mammalian neck has more recently been uncovered. This work aims to review neck modularity in mammals from a developmental
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DNA Barcoding and Demographic History of Peromyscus yucatanicus (Rodentia: Cricetidae) Endemic to the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-05-30 M. Ángel León-Tapia
The Yucatan Peninsula (YP) is a biotic province located in southeastern Mexico, delimited mainly by climatic variables. One endemic species of the YP is the Yucatan deer mouse Peromyscus yucatanicus. It is considered a member of the P. mexicanus species group, but some morphological characters and habitat preferences separate it from them. Herein, the DNA barcoding identification of P. yucatanicus
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"Canis" ferox Revisited: Diet Ecomorphology of Some Long Gone (Late Miocene and Pliocene) Fossil Dogs J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-05-16 Saverio Bartolini Lucenti, Lorenzo Rook
The late Miocene was a period of great radiation for the subfamily Caninae in North America. During this time, the early taxa of the two tribes of this subfamily, Vulpini and Canini, arose. Among them, Eucyon is one of the most important elements of the latest Miocene-Pliocene Canidae guild of both North America and Eurasia as they rapidly spread worldwide. The earliest member of the genus Canis, Canis
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Cranial Anatomy of the Desert Dormouse, Selevinia betpakdalaensis (Rodentia, Gliridae), revealed by Micro-Computed Tomography J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-05-03 Jesse J. Hennekam, James W. F. Sadler, Fedor N. Golenishchev, Lyudmila Yu. Kryuchkova, Dmitry Korost, Olga Nanova, Philip G. Cox
The dormice (Gliridae) represent a relatively small family of rodents, but exhibit considerable variation in their cranial anatomy. The skull morphology of almost all genera of dormice was described from osteological specimens in an earlier publication. However, the rare desert dormouse, Selevinia betpakdalaensis, was only assessed using previous descriptions and photographic images, resulting in difficulties
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Integration or Modularity in the Mandible of Canids (Carnivora: Canidae): a Geometric Morphometric Approach J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-04-30 Valentina Segura, Guillermo H. Cassini, Francisco J. Prevosti, Fabio Andrade Machado
Understanding the interplay between morphological integration and modularity is considered an important topic in the study of the evolution of the form of complex structures. The mandible is a complex structure that can be shaped by diverse factors such as ontogeny, ecology, and evolutionary history. In canids, this is particularly interesting because they have a large diversity in feeding behavior
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Changing Only Slowly: The Role of Phylogenetic Niche Conservatism in Caviidae (Rodentia) Speciation J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-04-23 Darlan da Silva, Anderson Eduardo Aires, Juan Pablo Zurano, Miguel Angel Olalla-Tárraga, Pablo Ariel Martinez
The dynamics of species diversification have attracted significant scientific attention in recent decades. Many lineages tend to maintain their niche characteristics over evolutionary time, a phenomenon known as phylogenetic niche conservatism (NC), which can slow the processes of ecological speciation by diversification selection. NC can, however, promote speciation through neutral evolution, favoring
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Ulna of Extant Xenarthrans: Shape, Size, and Function J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-04-22 Néstor Toledo, Nahuel A. Muñoz, Guillermo H. Cassini
Xenarthra, one of the major clades of placentals, comprises two different lineages (sloths and anteaters, and armadillos) with extant representatives showing strongly different morphologies and life habits. Sloths are arboreal herbivores, anteaters are insectivores with digging/climbing abilities, and armadillos are terrestrial diggers with varied diets. The ulna is one of the forelimb elements that
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An Ecomorphological Approach to Craniomandibular Integration in Neotropical Deer J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-04-03 Guillermo H. Cassini, Néstor Toledo
South American cervids have a relatively recent evolutionary history in the Neotropics. Present taxonomical richness includes six genera and 17 species grouped in at least two clades, Blastocerina and Odocoileina. With few exceptions, functional morphology or ecomorphological approaches have not been rigorously applied to the masticatory apparatus of Neotropical deer. In order to understand the relationship
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Shoulder Muscle Architecture in the Echidna (Monotremata: Tachyglossus aculeatus ) Indicates Conserved Functional Properties J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-03-14 Sophie Regnault, Philip Fahn-Lai, Rachel M. Norris, Stephanie E. Pierce
Monotremes are a group of egg-laying mammals, possessing a mosaic of ancestral and derived anatomical features. Despite much interest in monotremes from phylogenetic, morphological, and ecological perspectives, they have been the subject of relatively few biomechanical studies. In this study, we examined shoulder and proximal forelimb muscle anatomy and architecture in the short-beaked echidna, Tachyglossus
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An Ecomorphological Comparative Study of Extant and Late Holocene Sigmodontinae (Rodentia, Cricetidae) Assemblages from Central-Eastern Argentina J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-03-04 Sofía Barbero, Pablo Teta, Guillermo H. Cassini
The anthropic effect associated with worldwide European settlements over the last 500 years has caused dramatic environmental changes, modified regional patterns of biodiversity, and often led to local or complete extinctions. The sigmodontine rodents of Bahía Samborombón (Humid Pampas, central-eastern Argentina) constitute a good case study: a late Holocene archaeological site allowed us to compare
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Environmental Drivers and Distribution Patterns of Carnivoran Assemblages (Mammalia: Carnivora) in the Americas: Past to Present J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-03-03 Andrés Arias-Alzate, José F. González-Maya, Joaquín Arroyo-Cabrales, Rodrigo A. Medellín, Enrique Martínez-Meyer
Understanding species distributions and the variation of assemblage structure in time and space are fundamental goals of biogeography and ecology. Here, we use an ecological niche modeling and macroecological approach in order to assess whether constraints patterns in carnivoran richness and composition structures in replicated assemblages through time and space should reflect environmental filtering
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Allometry, Function and Shape Diversification in the Inner Ear of Platyrrhine Primates J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-01-22 Joaquin del Rio, Leandro Aristide, Sergio F. dos Reis, Thais M. P. dos Santos, Ricardo T. Lopes, S. Ivan Perez
The diversification of anatomical structures with functional importance during the branching process of a clade is a widely studied phenomenon in evolutionary biology. In recent years, there is a growing interest in the study of the inner ear, a structure associated with hearing, locomotion, and indirectly, with body size. These studies have been particularly important in primates. The platyrrhine
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Phylogeography of the Volcano Rabbit ( Romerolagus diazi ): the Evolutionary History of a Mountain Specialist Molded by the Climatic-Volcanism Interaction in the Central Mexican Highlands J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-01-18 Felipe Osuna, Dolores González, Alejandro Espinosa de los Monteros, José Antonio Guerrero
Processes such as climate fluctuations together with recent volcanism have driven the diversification and local persistence of biodiversity within the Mexican highlands. We reconstruct the phylogeographic pattern and historical demography of the volcano rabbit, Romerolagus diazi, an endemic lagomorph in central Mexico, to elucidate the effect of the climate-volcanism interaction on its evolutionary
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Form, Function and Evolution of the Skull of Didelphid Marsupials (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae) J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-01-18 M. Amelia Chemisquy, Sergio D. Tarquini, Cristo O. Romano Muñoz, Francisco J. Prevosti
Although didelphid marsupials are considered to have a conservative body shape, they show a considerable amount of size variation. They also have different diets (from frugivore to animalivore), but none of the species are specialized. Didelphid marsupials also have a certain degree of specialization in vertical habitat use, from ground-dwellers to canopy-dwellers. Several authors have shown in other
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Proximal Humerus Morphology Indicates Divergent Patterns of Locomotion in Extinct Giant Kangaroos J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2020-01-16 Christine M. Janis, James G. Napoli, Coral Billingham, Alberto Martín-Serra
Sthenurine kangaroos, extinct “giant kangaroos” known predominantly from the Plio-Pleistocene, have been proposed to have used bipedal striding as a mode of locomotion, based on the morphology of their hind limbs. However, sthenurine forelimb morphology has not been considered in this context, and has important bearing as to whether these kangaroos employed quadrupedal or pentapedal locomotion as a
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Modules and Mosaics in the Evolution of the Tetonius – Pseudotetonius Dentition J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2019-12-13 Naava H. Schottenstein, Mark Hubbe, John Hunter
The Tetonius-Pseudotetonius (T-P) transition is an often-cited example of phyletic gradualism, but rates of evolution and the roles of neutral and adaptive processes across this lineage remain unclear. Linking Tetonius and Pseudotetonius, two omomyid primates, are a series of stratigraphic and morphologic intermediates revealing trends suggestive of a functional and developmental reorganization of
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New Remains of Camelus grattardi (Mammalia, Camelidae) from the Plio-Pleistocene of Ethiopia and the Phylogeny of the Genus J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2019-12-12 Denis Geraads, W. Andrew Barr, Denne Reed, Michel Laurin, Zeresenay Alemseged
The Old World fossil record of the family Camelidae is patchy, but a new partial cranium and some other remains of Camelus grattardi from the Mille-Logya Project area in the Afar, Ethiopia, greatly increase the fossil record of the genus in Africa. These new data – together with analysis of unpublished and recently published material from other sites, and reappraisal of poorly known taxa – allow for
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Femoral Shape in Procyonids (Carnivora, Procyonidae): Morphofunctional Implications, Size and Phylogenetic Signal J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2019-12-12 Juliana Tarquini
Procyonids occur throughout the Americas and include ecologically diverse forms. They occupy diverse habitats and display a variety of locomotor modes and substrate preferences. Because of this ecological diversity, procyonids represent an interesting model for morphofunctional analysis of their postcranial skeleton. This work is an analysis of shape variation of the femur, a highly informative element
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Analysis of the Form-Function Relationship: Digging Behavior as a Case Study J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2019-12-12 Aldo I. Vassallo, Federico Becerra, Alejandra I. Echeverría, Alcira O. Díaz, María Victoria Longo, Mariana Cohen, Guido N. Buezas
Studies of functional morphology focus on species showing evident specializations, or at least some degree of divergence from the so-called “generalized phenotype.” This may have led to the proposal of the form-function correlation paradigm, which assumes that there is a close relationship between anatomical traits and their biological use. A question that arises in relation to digging is what minimum
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Correction to: A New Eobaatarid Multituberculate (Mammalia) from the Lower Cretaceous Fuxin Formation, Fuxin-Jinzhou Basin, Liaoning, Northeastern China J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2019-10-09 Nao Kusuhashi, Yuan-Qing Wang, Xun Jin
Table 2 of this paper has an unnecessary value of 1.88 in the row of PIN 3101/63 (Eobaatar magnus), which is not related with this table. This is just an authors’ mistake, and please ignore this value.
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Views on the Form-Function Correlation and Biological Design J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2019-09-16 Sergio F. Vizcaíno, M. Susana Bargo
The linkage between form and function is a fascinating field for intellectual analysis and contemplation in natural sciences by naturalists, biologists, anatomists, as well as philosophers and theologians. In the early nineteenth century, creationists’ approaches (Cuvier-Paley) helped to install the idea of a form-function binomial that gained scientific status in the second half of that century when
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Correction to: Enamel Microstructure in Cetacea: a Case Study in Evolutionary Loss of Complexity J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2019-09-14 Alexander J. Werth, Carolina Loch, R. Ewan Fordyce
Credit for the Basilosaurus tooth photograph in Figure 9a: Aaron Miller, Ancient Earth Trading Company LLC. Also, please note that individual teeth shown in both Figure 2 and Figure 9 were not the specific sources of accompanying enamel photomicrographs.
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The Hind Limbs of Sobrarbesiren cardieli (Eocene , Northeastern Spain) and New Insights into the Locomotion Capabilities of the Quadrupedal Sirenians J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2019-09-06 Ester Díaz-Berenguer, Alexandra Houssaye, Ainara Badiola, José Ignacio Canudo
In the transition from a terrestrial to an aquatic environment, sirenian marine mammals reduced and lost their hind limbs and developed a horizontal caudal fin, the main propulsive organ in extant sirenians. Quadrupedal forms are only known from the Eocene and are represented by three different clades: the amphibious “prorastomids,” the aquatic quadrupedal protosirenids, and Sobrarbesiren cardieli
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A New Eobaatarid Multituberculate (Mammalia) from the Lower Cretaceous Fuxin Formation, Fuxin-Jinzhou Basin, Liaoning, Northeastern China J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2019-08-23 Nao Kusuhashi, Yuan-Qing Wang, Xun Jin
Five multituberculate species have been reported to date from the upper Lower Cretaceous (Aptian–Albian) Shahai and Fuxin formations in Liaoning Province, northeastern China. We herein describe an additional species of eobaatarid multituberculate from the Fuxin Formation, Dolichoprion lii, gen. et sp. nov., with a long (relative to height) crown of the fourth lower premolar, which is unique among eobaatarids
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Unidirectional Introgression and Evidence of Hybrid Superiority over Parental Populations in Eastern Iranian Plateau Population of Hares (Mammalia: Lepus Linnaeus, 1758) J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2019-08-22 Zeinolabedin Mohammadi, Mansour Aliabadian, Fatemeh Ghorbani, Faezeh Yazdani Moghaddam, Andrey A. Lissovsky, Matthias Obst, Urban Olsson
Hares from Iran can be divided into three morphological groups, with Lepus europaeus inhabiting the western parts of Iran. Hares from lowland areas along the southeastern corner of the Caspian Sea are morphologically similar to both L. tolai and L. tibetanus, but diagnosis is complicated by a lack of taxonomic agreement. Mitochondrial DNA suggests L. tibetanus rather than L. tolai, although comparative
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Do Equids Live longer than Grazing Bovids? J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2019-08-20 Morgane Tidière, Patrick Duncan, Jean-François Lemaître, Jean-Michel Gaillard, Laurie Bingaman Lackey, Dennis W. H. Müller, Marcus Clauss
A large part of the diversity of longevity and actuarial senescence (i.e., the progressive decline of survival probabilities with age) across vertebrates can be related to body size, phylogeny, and the species’ position on the slow-fast continuum of life histories. However, differences in mortality patterns between ecologically similar species, such as bovids and equids, remain poorly understood. Equids
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A New Species of Agriotherium from North America, and Implications for Understanding Transformations in the Metaconid-Entoconid Complex of Bears J. Mammal. Evol. (IF 2.5) Pub Date : 2019-08-20 Qigao Jiangzuo, John J. Flynn
New material of Agriotherium from the late Hemphillian (~6 Ma) Quiburis Formation in Arizona, North America is reported. These specimens represent a new species, Agriotherium hendeyi, sp. nov., of small size and with a bucco-lingually narrow lower dentition distinguishing it from North American “Agriotherium” schneideri as well as the genotype and other Old World species of Agriotherium. Strikingly
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