Abstract
Guard hair microstructure in Neotropical marsupials has been described in two different patterns: medullar and cuticular. The main objective of this chapter is to analyze and discuss how guard hair microstructure varies among species according to phylogenetic relationships and/or to adaptive/morphological convergences between evolutionarily distant clades. To achieve this, phylogenetic comparative methods were applied to a sample of 22 species of Neotropical marsupials. Statistical analyses were performed based on phylogenetic relationships among species, occurrence in different biomes, body mass, tail/body length, and locomotor habits. The main results indicate there is a phylogenetic signal in the hair evolution of didelphid marsupials and also evidence of hair adaptation, which is explained by locomotor habits and biome. This evidence of adaptation is probably more associated with the medulla: the narrow, ladder-like medulla, which seems to be an adaptation to arboreal life and related to fur weight reduction, and the wide, letter-like medulla associated with species living in forested biomes, which may be an adaptation related to heat absorption and thermoregulation. Also, the reticulated medullar pattern of Chironectes minimus is possibly an adaptation to semiaquatic life related to buoyancy.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abreu MSL, Christoff AU, Vieira EM (2011) Identificação de marsupiais do Rio Grande do Sul através da microestrutura dos pelos-guarda. Biota Neotrop 11(3):391–400
Adams D, Collyer M (2019) Phylogenetic comparative methods and the evolution of multivariate phenotypes. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 50:1–21
Amman BR, Owen RD, Bradley RD (2002) Utility of hair structure for taxonomic discrimination in bats, with an example from the bats of Colorado. Occas Pap 216:1–16
Battistella T, Cerezer F, Bubadué F et al (2019) Litter size variation in didelphid marsupials: evidence of phylogenetic constraints and adaptation. Biol J Linn Soc 126(1):40–54
Baum DA, Larson A (1991) Adaptation reviewed: a phylogenetic methodology for studying character macroevolution. Syst Biol 40(1):1–18
Blomberg SP, Garland T (2002) Tempo and mode in evolution: phylogenetic inertia, adaptation, and comparative methods. J Evol Biol 15(6):899–910
Blomberg SP, Garland-Jr T, Ives AR (2003) Testing for phylogenetic signal in comparative data: behavioral traits are more labile. Evolution 57:717–745
Brunner H, Coman BJ (1974) The identification of mammalian hair. Inkata Press, Melbourne
Bubadué JM, Hendges CD, Cherem JJ et al (2019) Marsupials versus placental: assessing the evolutionary changes in the scapula of didelphids and sigmodontines. Biol J Linn Soc 128(4):994–1007
Burnham KP, Anderson DR (2004) Multimodel inference: understanding AIC and BIC in model selection. Sociol Method Res 33(2):261–304
Cerezer FO, Ribeiro JRI, Graipel M et al (2020) The dark side of coloration: ecogeographical evidence supports Gloger’s rule in American marsupials. Evolution 74(9):2046–2058
Chemisquy MA, Prevosti FJ, Martin G et al (2015) Evolution of molar shape in didelphid marsupials (Marsupialia: Didelphidae): analysis of the influence of ecological factors and phylogenetic legacy. Zool J Linnean Soc 173:217–235
Chemisquy MA, Tarquini SD, Romano-Muñoz CO et al (2020) Form, function and evolution of the skull of didelphid marsupials (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae). J Mamm Evol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-019-09495-4
Chernova OF, Kirillova IV, Boeskorov GG et al (2015) Architectonics of the hairs of the Woolly Mammoth and Wooly Rhino. Proc Zool Inst RAS 319(3):441–460
Dawson TJ, Webster KN, Maloney SK (2014) The fur of mammals in exposed environments; do crypsis and thermal needs necessarily conflict? The polar bear and marsupial koala compared. J Comp Physiol B 184(2):273–284
Duda R, Costa LP (2015) Morphological, morphometric and genetic variation among cryptic and sympatric species of southeastern South American three-striped opossums (Monodelphis: Mammalia: Didelphidae). Zootaxa 3936(4):485–506
Fernández GJ, Rossi SM (1998) Medullar type and cuticular scale patterns of hairs of rodents and small marsupials from the Monte Scrubland (San Luis Province, Argentina). Mastozool Neotrop 5:109–116
Fritz AS, Purvis A (2010) Selectivity in mammalian extinction risk and threat types: a new measure of phylogenetic signal strength in binary traits. Conserv Biol 24(4):1042–1051
Gould S, Vrba E (1982) Exaptation—a missing term in the science of form. Paleobiol 8(1):4–15
Harmon LJ, Weir JT, Brock CD et al (2008) GEIGER: investigating evolutionary radiations. Bioinformatics 24:129–131
Holder MT, Sukumaran J, Lewis PO (2008) A justification for reporting the majority-rule consensus tree in Bayesian phylogenetics. Syst Biol 57(5):814–821
Homan JÁ, Genoways HH (1978) An analysis of hair structure and its phylogenetic implications among Heteromyid rodents. J Mamm 59(4):740–760
Ivlev YF (2019) Biomechanical analysis of fur as a tool for study of thermal insulation in Semi-Aquatic Mammals. Biol Bull 46(7):763–779
Jansa SA, Barker FK, Voss RS (2014) The early diversification history of didelphid marsupials: a window into South America's “Splendid Isolation”. Evolution 68(3):684–695
Jones KE, Bielby J, Cardillo M et al (2009) PanTHERIA: a species-level database of life history, ecology, and geography of extant and recently extinct mammals. Ecology 90(9):2648
Keogh H (1979) An atlas of hair from southern African mammal species with reference to its taxonomic and ecological significance. PhD thesis, University of Pretoria
Landgraf AJ, Lee Y (2015) Dimensionality reduction for binary data through the projection of natural parameters. ar**v preprint ar**v:1510.06112
Liwanag HEM (2008). Fur versus blubber: a comparative look at marine mammal insulation and its metabolic and behavioral consequences. PhD thesis, University of California
Liwanag HEM, Berta A, Costa DP et al (2012) Morphological and thermal properties of mammalian insulation: the evolutionary transition to blubber in pinnipeds. Biol J Linn Soc 107(4):774–787
Magnus LZ, Cáceres N (2017) Phylogeny explains better than ecology or body size the variation of the first lower molar in didelphid marsupials. Mammalia 81(2):119–133
Martin PS, Gheler-Costa C, Verdade LM (2009) Microestruturas de pêlos de pequenos mamíferos não-voadores: Chave para identificação de espécies de agroecossistemas do Estado de São Paulo. Brasil Biota Neotrop 9(1):233–242
Meyer W, Schnapper A, Hülmann G (2006) The hair cuticle of mammals and its relationship to functions of the hair coat. J Zool 256(4):489–494
Müller-Schwarze D, Volkman NJ, Zemanek KF (1977) Osmetrichia: specialized scent hair in black-tailed deer. J Ultrastruct Res 59:223–230
Orme D, Freckleton R, Thomas G et al (2018) Caper: comparative analyses of phylogenetics and evolution in R. R package version 1.0.1. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=caper
Paglia AP, Fonseca GAB, Rylands AB et al (2012) Lista anotada dos mamíferos do Brasil/Annotated checklist of Brazilian mammals. 2ed. Occasional papers in conservation biology no 6. Conservation International, Arlington
Paradis E, Schliep K (2018) Ape 5.0: an environment for modern phylogenetics and evolutionary analyses in R. Bioinformatics 35:526–528
Quadros J (2012) Identificação microscópica de pelos de marsupiais brasileiros. In: Cáceres NC (ed) Os marsupiais do Brasil: biologia, ecologia e conservação, 2nd edn. Editora UFMS, Campo Grande, pp 73–91
Quadros J, Monteiro-Filho ELA (2006a) Coleta e preparação de pêlos de mamíferos para identificação em microscopia óptica. Rev Bras Zool 23:274–278
Quadros J, Monteiro-Filho ELA (2006b) Revisão conceitual, padrões microestruturais e proposta nomenclatória para os pelos-guarda de mamíferos brasileiros. Rev Bras Zool 23:279–292
Quadros J, Monteiro-Filho ELA (2010) Identificação dos mamíferos de uma área de floresta atlântica utilizando a microestrutura de pelos-guarda de predadores e presas. Arch Mus Nac (Rio de J) 68:47–66
R Core Team (2020) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. https://www.R-project.org/
Revell LJ (2012) Phytools: An R package for phylogenetic comparative biology (and other things). Methods Ecol Evol 3:217–223
Santori RT, Vieira MV, Rocha-Barbosa O et al (2008) Water absorption of the fur and swimming behavior of semi-aquatic and terrestrial Oryzomine rodents. J Mamm 89:1152–1161
Silva FC (2018) Identificação de marsupiais (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae) da Cadeia do Espinhaço através da microestrutura dos pelos-guarda, Minas Gerais, Brasil. Master dissertation, Universidade Federal dos Vales Jequitinhonha e Mucuri
Silveira F, Navarro MA, Monteiro P et al (2013) Proposta de utilização da microestrutura de pelos-guarda para fins de estudos forenses e no controle de qualidade de alimentos. Rev Bras Criminal 2(1):32–41
Stangl FB Jr, Grimes JV (1987) Phylogenetic implications of comparative pelage morphology in Aplodontidae and the Nearctic Sciuridae, with observations on seasonal pelage variation. Occas Pap 112:1–21
Teerink BJ (1991) Hair of west European mammals: atlas and identification. University Press, Cambridge
Upham NS, Esselstyn JA, Jetz W (2019) Inferring the mammal tree: Species-level sets of phylogenies for questions in ecology, evolution, and conservation. PLoS Biol 17(12):e3000494
Vaughan TA, Ryan JM, Czaplewski NJ (2000) Mammalogy, 4th edn. Thomson Learning, Stamford
Vieira EM, Camargo NF (2012) Uso do espaço vertical por marsupiais brasileiros. In: Cáceres NC (ed) Os marsupiais do Brasil: biologia, ecologia e conservação, 2nd edn. Editora UFMS, Campo Grande, pp 345–362
Wold S, Esbensen K, Geladi P (1987) Principal component analysis. Chemometrics Intell Lab Syst 2(1–3):37–52
Acknowledgments
Financial support came in part from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) – Brazil – Finance Code 001 for Felipe O. Cerezer. Nilton C. Cáceres is currently supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq – Brazil (process number 313191/2018-2).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Quadros, J., Cerezer, F.O., Cáceres, N.C. (2022). Hair Microstructure Diversity in Neotropical Marsupials: Roles of Phylogenetic Signal and Adaptation. In: Cáceres, N.C., Dickman, C.R. (eds) American and Australasian Marsupials. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88800-8_9-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88800-8_9-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-88800-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-88800-8
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences