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opencc-zeroJun 2024View details →

Data from: Cenozoic climate change and the evolution of North American mammalian predator ecomorphology

<p>The trend of global cooling across the Cenozoic transformed the North American landscape from closed forest to more open grasslands, resulting in dietary adaptations in herbivores in response to shifting resources. In contrast, the material properties of the predator food source, muscle, skin, and bone, have remained constant over this transition, suggesting a corresponding lack of change in predator dietary adaptations. We investigate the North American mammal predator fossil record using a tooth shape metric and body mass, predicting that the former would exhibit stability. Instead, we found that mean molar morphology became more blade-like, with our tooth shape metric sharply increasing in the late Eocene and remaining high from the Oligocene onward. Subsequent tests in extant carnivorans reveal taxa with more blade-like teeth are prevalent in more open environments. Our results reveal an unexpected functional shift among North American predators in response to large-scale environmental changes across the Cenozoic.</p>

opencc-by-4.0Mar 2016View details →

Fig. 1 in The sixth sense in mammalian forerunners: Variability of the parietal foramen and the evolution of the pineal eye in South African Permo-Triassic eutheriodont therapsids

Fig. 1. Measurement protocol of foramen magnum, parietal foramen, and orbit in Therapsida.

Fig. 21 in Cranial Anatomy Of Kryptobaatar Dashzevegi (Mammalia, Multituberculata), And Its Bearing On The Evolution Of Mammalian Characters

Fig. 21. Stereophotograph of the basicranium of Kryptobaatar dashzevegi PSSMAE 113.

Fig. 20 in Cranial Anatomy Of Kryptobaatar Dashzevegi (Mammalia, Multituberculata), And Its Bearing On The Evolution Of Mammalian Characters

Fig. 20. Stereophotograph of the basicranium of Kryptobaatar dashzevegi PSSMAE 101.

Fig. 15 in Cranial Anatomy Of Kryptobaatar Dashzevegi (Mammalia, Multituberculata), And Its Bearing On The Evolution Of Mammalian Characters

Fig. 15. Stereophotograph of the skull of Kryptobaatar dashzevegi PSSMAE 113 in ventral view.

Fig. 17 in Cranial Anatomy Of Kryptobaatar Dashzevegi (Mammalia, Multituberculata), And Its Bearing On The Evolution Of Mammalian Characters

Fig. 17. Stereophotograph of the skull of Kryptobaatar dashzevegi PSSMAE 113 in posterior view

Fig. 5 in Cranial Anatomy Of Kryptobaatar Dashzevegi (Mammalia, Multituberculata), And Its Bearing On The Evolution Of Mammalian Characters

Fig. 5. The left lower jaw of Kryptobaatar dashzevegi PSSMAE 113 in lateral and medial views

Fig. 9 in Cranial Anatomy Of Kryptobaatar Dashzevegi (Mammalia, Multituberculata), And Its Bearing On The Evolution Of Mammalian Characters

Fig. 9. Stereophotograph of the skull of Kryptobaatar dashzevegi PSSMAE 113 in dorsal view.

Fig. 7 in Cranial Anatomy Of Kryptobaatar Dashzevegi (Mammalia, Multituberculata), And Its Bearing On The Evolution Of Mammalian Characters

Fig. 7. Stereophotograph of the skull of Kryptobaatar dashzevegi PSSMAE 113 in anterior view.

opencc-zeroJan 2023View details →

What is a mammalian omnivore? Insights into terrestrial mammalian diet diversity, body mass, and evolution

<p>Mammalian omnivores are a broad and diverse group of mammals that are often lumped together in ecological studies. As a result, there are open questions about what macroevolutionary and macroecological information can be gained when omnivorous dietary differences are investigated in ecological and phylogenetic comparative studies. In this study, we investigate the frequency at which vertebrate prey, invertebrate prey, fibrous plant material, and non-fibrous plant material co-occur in the diets of omnivorous species. We quantify the body size distributions and phylogenetic signal of terrestrial mammals that consume different omnivorous diets and using multistate reversible jump MCMC, we assess the transition rates between mammalian diet strategies on the mammalian phylogenetic tree. We find that omnivores that consume all four food types are rare and most omnivorous mammals consume only invertebrate prey and non-fibrous plants. We also find that omnivores that only consume invertebrate prey are on average smaller than omnivores that incorporate vertebrate prey as many are from within Rodentia. Our transition rate models show that there are high transition rates from invertivorous omnivory to herbivory, and from vertebrate predation to prey mixing and ultimately invertivory. Our results suggest that prey type is an important aspect of omnivore macroevolution and macroecology, as it is correlated with body mass, evolutionary history, and diet-related evolutionary transition rates.</p>

publicDec 2024View details →

Data from: Cenozoic climate change and the evolution of North American mammalian predator ecomorphology

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publicJan 2023View details →

What is a mammalian omnivore? Insights into terrestrial mammalian diet diversity, body mass, and evolution

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opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Adaptation and constraint in the evolution of the mammalian backbone

Background: The axial skeleton consists of repeating units (vertebrae) that are integrated through their development and evolution. Unlike most tetrapods, vertebrae in the mammalian trunk are subdivided into distinct thoracic and lumbar modules, resulting in a system that is constrained in terms of count but highly variable in morphology. This study asks how thoracolumbar regionalization has impacted adaptation and evolvability across mammals. Using geometric morphometrics, we examine evolutionary patterns in five vertebral positions from diverse mammal species encompassing a broad range of locomotor ecologies. We quantitatively compare the effects of phylogenetic and allometric constraints, and ecological adaptation between regions, and examine their impact on evolvability (disparity and evolutionary rate) of serially-homologous vertebrae. Results: Although phylogenetic signal and allometry are evident throughout the trunk, the effect of locomotor ecology is partitioned between vertebral positions. Lumbar vertebral shape correlates most strongly with ecology, differentiating taxa based on their use of asymmetric gaits. Similarly, disparity and evolutionary rates are also elevated posteriorly, indicating a link between the lumbar region, locomotor adaptation, and evolvability. Conclusion: Vertebral regionalization in mammals has facilitated rapid evolution of the posterior trunk in response to selection for locomotion and static body support.

opencc-zeroDec 2011View details →

Data from: Tempo of trophic evolution and its impact on mammalian diversification

Mammals are characterized by the complex adaptations of their dentition, which are an indication that diet has played a critical role in their evolutionary history. Although much attention has focused on diet and the adaptations of specific taxa, the role of diet in large-scale diversification patterns remains unresolved. Contradictory hypotheses have been proposed, making prediction of the expected relationship difficult. We show that net diversification rate (the cumulative effect of speciation and extinction), differs significantly among living mammals, depending upon trophic strategy. Herbivores diversify fastest, carnivores are intermediate, and omnivores are slowest. The tempo of transitions between the trophic strategies is also highly biased: the fastest rates occur into omnivory from herbivory and carnivory and the lowest transition rates are between herbivory and carnivory. Extant herbivore and carnivore diversity arose primarily through diversification within lineages, whereas omnivore diversity evolved by transitions into the strategy. The ability to specialize and subdivide the trophic niche allowed herbivores and carnivores to evolve greater diversity than omnivores.

publicJun 2018View details →

Data from: Evolution of mammalian migrations for refuge, breeding, and food

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publicOct 2016View details →

Data from: The evolution of growth patterns in mammalian versus non-mammalian cynodonts

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publicOct 2018View details →

Data from: Adaptation and constraint in the evolution of the mammalian backbone

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publicAug 2013View details →

Data from: Experimental evidence for the evolution of the mammalian baculum by sexual selection

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