The quantitative description of growth curves for morphometric traits provides a basis for assessing the ontogenetic patterns underlying differences in morphological structure, as demonstrated with comparisons among neotomine-peromyscine rodents. Morphometric differences among contemporary rodent species are shown to result from relatively simple changes in relative growth rates and timing. Quantitative ontogenetic studies add a dynamic component to the assessment of morphological similarity, thus providing a more robust procedure for detecting homoplasy than static comparison of adult morphology. Applying the principles of phylogenetic systematics to studies of developmental timing among closely related taxa may be a useful and informative complement to studies based on molecular similarity or static comparison of adult morphology. Interspecific and intraspecific differences in allometric scaling of anatomical structures may reflect differences in growth patterns among the taxa compared; caution is warranted in inferring patterns of genetic correlation from data on phenotypic scaling.
The quantitative description of growth curves for morphometric traits provides a basis for assessing the ontogenetic patterns underlying differences in morphological structure, as demonstrated with comparisons among neotomine-peromyscine rodents. Morphometric differences among contemporary rodent species are shown to result from relatively simple changes in relative growth rates and timing. Quantitative ontogenetic studies add a dynamic component to the assessment of morphological similarity, thus providing a more robust procedure for detecting homoplasy than static comparison of adult morphology. Applying the principles of phylogenetic systematics to studies of developmental timing among closely related taxa may be a useful and informative complement to studies based on molecular similarity or static comparison of adult morphology. Interspecific and intraspecific differences in allometric scaling of anatomical structures may reflect differences in growth patterns among the taxa compared; caution is warranted in inferring patterns of genetic correlation from data on phenotypic scaling.
Functional least squares regression was used to fit the allometric equation, y= bxk, to data on head‐body lengths and body weights for 123 species of mammals. These measurements were found to be highly correlated and to scale isometrically. The scaling of M1 area with head‐body length was investigated for 288 species of terrestrial mammals. A method was described for estimating the body size of extinct mammals from M1 area and the tooth size‐body size relationships discovered among contemporary forms.
Activities of four catabolic enzymes (citrate synthase, hexokinase, 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, and phosphorylase) were measured in the pectoralis muscles of 10 species of South American bats, representing four families. The pattern of enzyme activities in these tissues suggests that these muscles differ qualitatively with other mammalian and avian muscles in two respects. First, the muscles of all 10 bat species were much more highly oriented toward fat metabolism and away from glucose metabolism than in any previously measured skeletal muscle. Second, the species were divided into two major groups with respect to hexokinase activity. Primarily frugivorous species had hexokinase activities about 2-3 times as high as insectivorous species. It is suggested that the weight restrictions of flight limit glycogen storage and thus bias muscle metabolism toward fat. However, the extent to which pectoralis muscles have the capacity for glucose oxidation appears to be dependent on the intake of dietary glucose.
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