Abstract
The proximal femoral morphology in rodents of different body sizes, locomotor modes, and from the three main rodent lineages (Sciuromorpha, Myomorpha, and Hystricomorpha) exhibit a separated condition of the femoral head and greater trochanter. We assessed the femoral ossification of eight species of all six genera of a subterranean lineage of mammals, the African mole-rats (Bathyergidae), including the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber). Here we report a surprising level of intraspecific variation in the ossification of the proximal femur of H. glaber, which presents both separated and coalesced conditions, regardless of sex and reproductive status. The other bathyergids, including chisel-tooth and scratch-diggers exhibit a separated condition, similar to the typical rodent condition. Because the coalesced condition is uncommon among rodents, our data suggests that the presence of two femoral morphologies in H. glaber represent developmental plasticity in this species. Such a dual condition may result from a constricted femoral head and greater trochanter morphology and slow skeletal growth rates, which could be also influenced by differential loading histories, such as magnitude and orientation of forces acting on the limb during ontogeny. This is the best documented case of intraspecific variation for this trait amongst non-human vertebrates, and its investigation is important to understanding the mechanisms of skeletal development and phenotypic plasticity in mammals.
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Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to Tim Clutton-Brock for providing mole-rat specimens and Dave Gaynor, Tanja van de Ven, Jacob Brown, Carlijn Brands and Philippe Vullioud for assisting with the access to specimens in the Kalahari Meerkat Project (Kuruman Station). We also thank Marcelo Sánchez-Villagra (Universität Zürich) and Sabine Begall (Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany) for providing mole-rats specimens. Denise Hamerton (Curator), Jofred Opperman (Collections Manager) and Gabriel Lukoji (Assistant Collections Manager) are also acknowledged for kindly giving access to petromurid and hystricid specimens at the Iziko SA Museum (Cape Town, South Africa). We thank the editors, Darin Croft and Rachel H Dunn, as well as Alexandra Houssaye and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments on the manuscript, which significantly improved our study.
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This project was supported by Becas Chile, Government of Chile (CONICYT, 72160463), National Research Foundation (NRF-117716), the SARChI chair of Mammalian Behavioural Ecology and Physiology (DST-NRF-64756), and the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR, 20-10222S).
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GMS and AC designed the study; AC supervised GMS’s doctoral thesis and supported the experimental procedures; NB and RS provided mole-rat specimens and supported the experimental procedures; GMS, analysed data, prepared the manuscript, acquired images, created figures; All authors read, edited and approved the manuscript.
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Montoya-Sanhueza, G., Šumbera, R., Bennett, N.C. et al. Developmental Plasticity in the Ossification of the Proximal Femur of Heterocephalus glaber (Bathyergidae, Rodentia). J Mammal Evol 29, 663–675 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-022-09602-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-022-09602-y