Quantitative Morphological Proxies for Fossoriality in Small Mammals

Hopkins, Samantha S. B.; Davis, Edward B.

doi:10.1644/08-mamm-a-262r1.1

Cited by 63 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Hopkins and Davis (2009) found this dataset to be 86.1% accurate at distinguishing burrowing (= subterranean + fossorial) and non-burrowing taxa, and 85.2% accurate for distinguishing subterranean, fossorial and non-burrowing taxa. Hopkins and Davis (2009) estimated measurements for Notoryctes typhlops from published images; we have replaced these with measurements taken directly from N. typhlops specimen SAM M637. We added a further three modern marsupial taxa to the Hopkins and Davis (2009) dataset, namely the non-burrowing dasyurid Dasyurus viverrinus, the non-burrowing peramelemorphians Isoodon macrourus, I. obesulus and Perameles gunnii, and the fossorial peramelemorphian Macrotis lagotis.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…philcreaseri supports its interpretation as a fossorial or subterranean mammal, we used a quadratic discriminant analysis based on the "limbs only" dataset of Hopkins and Davis (2009). This dataset comprises four measurements from the humerus, two from the ulna, and two from the femur, for 115 extant subterranean, fossorial and non-burrowing mammal species (including placentals, marsupials and monotremes; see Hopkins and Davis, 2009 for full details). Hopkins and Davis (2009) found this dataset to be 86.1% accurate at distinguishing burrowing (= subterranean + fossorial) and non-burrowing taxa, and 85.2% accurate for distinguishing subterranean, fossorial and non-burrowing taxa.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This dataset comprises four measurements from the humerus, two from the ulna, and two from the femur, for 115 extant subterranean, fossorial and non-burrowing mammal species (including placentals, marsupials and monotremes; see Hopkins and Davis, 2009 for full details). Hopkins and Davis (2009) found this dataset to be 86.1% accurate at distinguishing burrowing (= subterranean + fossorial) and non-burrowing taxa, and 85.2% accurate for distinguishing subterranean, fossorial and non-burrowing taxa. Hopkins and Davis (2009) estimated measurements for Notoryctes typhlops from published images; we have replaced these with measurements taken directly from N. typhlops specimen SAM M637.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We present a qualitative functional interpretation of its postcranial morphology, focusing on evidence for fossoriality, and test this within a quantitative framework using multivariate discriminant analysis (see Hopkins and Davis, 2009). We also calculate the widely-used Index of Fossorial Ability (Vizcaino et al, 1999;Vizcaino and Milne, 2002) for Na.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

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: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

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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Postnatal development of the largest subterranean mammal (Bathyergus suillus): Morphology, osteogenesis, and modularity of the appendicular skeleton

Montoya‐Sanhueza

Wilson

Chinsamy

2019

Developmental Dynamics

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Background Subterranean mammals show a suite of musculoskeletal adaptations that enables efficient digging. However, little is known about their development. We assessed ontogenetic changes in functionally relevant skeletal traits, and ossification patterns (periosteal and endochondral bone modules) in a truly subterranean scratch‐digging rodent, Bathyergus. We studied 52 individuals (202 long bones) from a wild population by using a multiscale approach involving internal and external morphology. Results Multivariate analysis showed significant morphological changes during ontogeny. A specialized phenotype is expressed perinatally (eg, greater external robustness and developed olecranon, teres major, and deltoid processes), whereas adults presented slender bones with significantly thicker cross‐sections. Ossification modules scaled mostly isometrically with body size parameters. Periosteal modules showed high variability and tended to grow faster than endochondral modules. Conclusions Scratch‐digging adaptations appear at perinatal age and then specialize in subadults. Early development of agonistic and digging behaviors and onset of sexual maturation seems to contribute to its development, although genetic factors also seem to play an important role. Ontogenetic differences are probably a trade‐off to counteract weaker cortical bone properties and poor muscle development in juveniles, whereas slender but thicker cortical bones maximize bone resistance during burrow construction without compromising locomotor performance in adults.

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Weighing homoplasy against alternative scenarios with the help of macroevolutionary modeling: A case study on limb bones of fossorial sciuromorph rodents

Wölfer

Nyakatura

2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Homoplasy is a strong indicator of a phenotypic trait's adaptive significance when it can be linked to a similar function. We assessed homoplasy in functionally relevant scapular and femoral traits of Marmotini and Xerini, two sciuromorph rodent clades that independently acquired a fossorial lifestyle from an arboreal ancestor. We studied 125 species in the scapular dataset and 123 species in the femoral dataset. Pairwise evolutionary model comparison was used to evaluate whether homoplasy of trait optima is more likely than other plausible scenarios. The most likely trend of trait evolution among all traits was assessed via likelihood scoring of all considered models. The homoplasy hypothesis could never be confirmed as the single most likely model. Regarding likelihood scoring, scapular traits most frequently did not differ among Marmotini, Xerini, and arboreal species. For the majority of femoral traits, results indicate that Marmotini, but not Xerini, evolved away from the ancestral arboreal condition. We conclude on the basis of the scapular results that the forelimbs of fossorial and arboreal sciuromorphs share mostly similar functional demands, whereas the results on the femur indicate that the hind limb morphology is less constrained, perhaps depending on the specific fossorial habitat.

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Quantitative Morphological Proxies for Fossoriality in Small Mammals

Cited by 63 publications

References 19 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

Postnatal development of the largest subterranean mammal (Bathyergus suillus): Morphology, osteogenesis, and modularity of the appendicular skeleton

Weighing homoplasy against alternative scenarios with the help of macroevolutionary modeling: A case study on limb bones of fossorial sciuromorph rodents

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