Locomotion and Appendicular Anatomy in Three Soricoid Insectivores

Reed, Charles A.

doi:10.2307/2421996

Cited by 121 publications

(188 citation statements)

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“…philcreaseri follows previous studies of fossorial and subterranean mammals, both living and fossil (e.g. Stirling, 1891;Thompson and Hillier, 1905;Chapman, 1919;Campbell, 1939;Orcutt, 1940;Reed, 1951;Lehmann, 1963;Puttick and Jarvis, 1977;Rose and Emry, 1983;Gasc et al, 1986;Lessa, 1990;Stein, 1993;Warburton, 2006), as well as more general studies of mammalian morphology (e.g. Coues, 1872;Barbour, 1963;Davis, 1964;Schaller, 1992;Evans, 1993).…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 80%

“…1a). In Notoryctes (and also some other burrowing mammals, such as talpids and chrysochlorids; Edwards, 1937;Reed, 1951;Puttick and Jarvis, 1977: fig. 3; Gasc et al, 1986), the scapular spine is oriented roughly parallel to the anterior thoracic vertebral column; hence the so-called "dorsal" (or "vertebral") border of the scapula is actually positioned caudally (rather than dorsomedially, towards the vertebral column), the "cranial" border is positioned dorsomedially, and the "caudal" (or "axillary") border is positioned ventrolaterally (Warburton, 2006).…”

Section: Anatomical Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Going underground: postcranial morphology of the early Miocene marsupial mole Naraboryctes philcreaseri and the evolution of fossoriality in notoryctemorphians

Beck¹,

Warburton²,

Archer³

et al. 2016

MMV

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Beck, R.M.D., Warburton, N.M., Archer, M., Hand, S.J. and Aplin, K.P. 2016. Going underground: postcranial morphology of the early Miocene marsupial mole Naraboryctes philcreaseri and the evolution of fossoriality in notoryctemorphians. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 74: 151-171.We present the first detailed descriptions of postcranial elements of the fossil marsupial mole Naraboryctes philcreaseri (Marsupialia: Notoryctemorphia), from early Miocene freshwater limestone deposits in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland. Qualitative functional analysis of these elements suggest that Na. philcreaseri was very well-adapted for burrowing, albeit somewhat less so than the living marsupial moles Notoryctes typhlops and N. caurinus. Quadratic discriminant analysis of limb measurements suggests that Na. philcreaseri was subterranean, and its Index of Fossorial Ability is almost identical to that of Notoryctes species, being among the highest known for any mammal. These results suggest that notoryctemorphians evolved their specialised, "mole-like" subterranean lifestyle prior to the early Miocene. Given that forested environments predominated in Australia until the middle-late Miocene, this transition to subterranean behaviour may have occurred via burrowing in forest floors, in which case fossorial mammals that live in tropical rainforests today (such as the placental golden moles Chrysospalax trevelyani and Huetia leucorhina) may represent reasonable living analogues for early notoryctemorphians. However, alternative scenarios, such as a cave-dwelling or semi-aquatic ancestry, should be considered. Phylogenetic analysis using a Bayesian total evidence dating approach places Naraboryctes as sister to Notoryctes with strong support (Bayesian posterior probability = 0.91), and indicates that Naraboryctes and Notoryctes diverged 30.3 MYA (95% HPD: 17.7-46.3 MYA). The age and known morphology of Na. philcreaseri does not preclude its being ancestral to Notoryctes. Using estimates of divergence times and ratios of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitutions per site, we infer that the nuclear gene "Retinol-binding protein 3, interstitial" (RBP3), which plays a key role in vision, became inactive in the Notoryctes lineage ~5.4 MYA (95% HPD: 4.5-6.3 MYA). This is much younger than previous published estimates, and postdates considerably the age of Na. philcreaseri, implying that RBP3 was active in this fossil taxon; hence, Na. philcreaseri may have retained a functional visual system. Our estimate for the inactivation of RBP3 in the Notoryctes lineage coincides with palaeobotanical evidence for a major increase in the abundance of grasses in Australia, which may indicate the appearance of more open environments, and hence selection pressure on notoryctemorphians to spend less time on the surface, leading to relaxed selection on RBP3. Ultimately, however, a fuller understanding of the origin and evolution of notoryctemorphians -including when and why they became "molelike" -will require improvements in ...

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Anatomical Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Going underground: postcranial morphology of the early Miocene marsupial mole Naraboryctes philcreaseri and the evolution of fossoriality in notoryctemorphians

Beck¹,

Warburton²,

Archer³

et al. 2016

MMV

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“…Terminology of dentition and dental characteristics follows Choate (1970). Anatomical terminology of the humerus follows Reed (1951). Capitalized life zone terminology follows Holdridge (1947).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(3) Humeral rotation lever index (HTI) indicates the length of the teres tubercle (HTTR) relative to the length of the humerus measured along its longitudinal axis of rotation (HAR). The teres tubercle on the eulipotyphlan humerus is the insertion for the latissimus dorsi and teres major muscles and serves as a lever for rotating the humerus (Reed 1951). We evaluated the overall functionality of the humerus for ambulatory locomotion versus fossoriality in two ways.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new species of small-eared shrew in the Cryptotis thomasi species group from Costa Rica (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Soricidae)

Woodman

Timm

2016

Mamm Res

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We describe a new species of small-eared shrew, genus Cryptotis Pomel, 1848 (Eulipotyphla: Soricidae), from near the community of Monteverde in the Tilarán highlands of northwestern Costa Rica. The new species is immediately distinguished from all other Costa Rican shrews its large size and long tail. Morphologically, it belongs to the Cryptotis thomasi group of small-eared shrews, a clade that is more typically distributed in the Andes Cordillera and other highland regions of northern South America. The new Costa Rican species and the Panamanian endemic Cryptotis endersi Setzer, 1950 are the only two members of this species group known to occur in Central America. Like most other members of the C. thomasi group for which the postcranial skeleton has been studied, the new species tends be more ambulatory (rather than semi-fossorial) when compared with other members of the genus. Our survey efforts over several decades failed to locate a population of the new species, and we discuss its conservation status in light of its limited potential distribution in the Tilarán highlands and the significant climatic change that has been documented in the Monteverde region during the past four decades.

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“…The morphological peculiarities of burrowing mammals are well known for their musculature and extremities skeleton (e.g., Dobson, 1882;Reed, 1951;Gambaryan, 1960). However, the specific adaptive features of the axial skeleton, which is, undoubtedly, influenced by the burrowing mode of life, have been hardly investigated yet.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peculiarities of the thoracic-lumbar vertebral morphology in common mole, Talpa europaea (Lipotyphla, Talpidae) in connection with its burrowing activity

Platonov¹

2003

Rus.J.Theriol.

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Locomotion and Appendicular Anatomy in Three Soricoid Insectivores

Cited by 121 publications

References 0 publications

Going underground: postcranial morphology of the early Miocene marsupial mole Naraboryctes philcreaseri and the evolution of fossoriality in notoryctemorphians

Going underground: postcranial morphology of the early Miocene marsupial mole Naraboryctes philcreaseri and the evolution of fossoriality in notoryctemorphians

A new species of small-eared shrew in the Cryptotis thomasi species group from Costa Rica (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Soricidae)

Peculiarities of the thoracic-lumbar vertebral morphology in common mole, Talpa europaea (Lipotyphla, Talpidae) in connection with its burrowing activity

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