Journal
ANATOMICAL RECORD-ADVANCES IN INTEGRATIVE ANATOMY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
Volume 301, Issue 2, Pages 279-290Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/ar.23720
Keywords
feeding; Chiroptera; jaw; mammals; Noctilionoidea
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation [1456375]
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [1456375] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Diet and feeding behavior in mammals is strongly linked to the morphology of their feeding apparatus. Cranio-muscular morphology determines how wide, forcefully, and quickly the jaw can be opened or closed, which limits the size and material properties of the foods that a mammal can eat. Most studies of feeding performance in mammals have focused on skull form and jaw muscles involved in generating bite force, but few explore how jaw abduction is related to feeding performance. In this study, we explored how the morphology of the digastric muscle, the primary jaw abducting muscle in mammals, and its jaw lever mechanics are related to diet in morphologically diverse noctilionoid bats. Results showed that insectivorous bats have strong digastric muscles associated with proportionally long jaws, which suggests these species can open their jaws quickly and powerfully during prey capture and chewing. Short snouted frugivorous bats exhibit traits that would enable them to open their jaws proportionally wider to accommodate the large fruits that they commonly feed on. Our results support the hypothesis that digastric muscle and jaw morphology are correlated with diet in bats, and that our results may also apply to other groups of mammals. (C) 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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