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Hair Microstructure Diversity in Neotropical Marsupials: Roles of Phylogenetic Signal and Adaptation

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American and Australasian Marsupials

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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.

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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).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Setor Litoral, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Matinhos, PR, Brazil

    Juliana Quadros

  2. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade Animal, Centro de Ciências Naturais e Exatas, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil

    Felipe O. Cerezer

  3. Laboratório de Mastozoologia, Departamento de Ecologia e Evolução, CCNE, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil

    Nilton C. Cáceres

Authors
  1. Juliana Quadros
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  2. Felipe O. Cerezer
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  3. Nilton C. Cáceres
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juliana Quadros .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolution, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil

    Nilton C. Cáceres

  2. School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia

    Christopher R. Dickman

Section Editor information

  1. Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil

    Nilton Cáceres Ph.D.

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Quadros, J., Cerezer, F.O., Cáceres, N.C. (2023). 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/10.1007/978-3-031-08419-5_9

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