Journal
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
Volume 6, Issue 10, Pages -Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.190938
Keywords
bone microanatomy; evolutionary transition; locomotion; long bones; mustelidae; trabecular bone architecture
Categories
Funding
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [AM 517/1-1, KI 1843/3-1, KI 1843/3-2]
- Museum fur Naturkunde Berlin's Innovation Fund
- Leibniz Association
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Mustelidae, a carnivoran clade that includes for instance weasels, badgers, otters and martens, has undergone several evolutionary transitions of lifestyle, resulting in specializations for fossorial, natatorial and scansorial locomotion, in addition to more generalized species. The family is therefore regarded as offering an adequate framework for morpho-functional analyses. However, the architecture of the epiphyseal trabecular bone, which is argued to be particularly responsive to the biomechanical environment, has never been studied. Here, we quantify trabecular bone parameters of the proximal and distal epiphyses of the humerus and femur in 29 species of mustelids and assess the differences of these parameters among groups defined a priori based on the aforementioned locomotor types. The parameters are assessed in a phylogenetic framework, taking into account the potential effect on an individual's body mass. The range of variation described by the acquired parameters is relatively restricted when compared to that of other clades. Generalists, however, are featuring a wider range of variation than the other types. While clear discrimination of locomotor types is difficult, some differences were highlighted by our analysis, such as a greater bone fraction associated with the natatorial taxa, which we discuss in a functional context.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available