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Digging Up Convergence in Fossorial Rodents: Insights into Burrowing Activity and Morpho-Functional Specializations of the Masticatory Apparatus
Fossorial habits are tightly related to digging abilities in vertebrates and the most extreme fossorial specialization is being restricted to conducting the entire life underground. Many mammals, especially ro...
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Article
Evolution Towards Fossoriality and Morphological Convergence in the Skull of Spalacidae and Bathyergidae (Rodentia)
Rodents show a wide range of anatomical, physiological, and behavioral adaptations to life underground. Cranial and postcranial bone morphologies are deeply impacted by the modes of digging, which can involve ...
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Article
Open AccessEvolutionary and Functional Implications of Incisor Enamel Microstructure Diversity in Notoungulata (Placentalia, Mammalia)
Notoungulates are an extinct clade of South American mammals, comprising a large diversity of body sizes and skeletal morphologies, and including taxa with highly specialized dentitions. The evolutionary histo...
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Article
Virtual Endocast Morphology of Mesotheriidae (Mammalia, Notoungulata, Typotheria): New Insights and Implications on Notoungulate Encephalization and Brain Evolution
We provide morphological, quantitative, and qualitative studies of cranial endocasts of mesotheriid notoungulates solving previous open debate on notoungulate endocasts. For that purpose, we use the most accur...
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Article
Evolving Teeth Within a Stable Masticatory Apparatus in Orkney Mice
Mice from the Orkney archipelago exhibit an important diversity regarding molar shape. While on some islands mice display a usual dental pattern, teeth from other islands display additional cusplets and unusua...
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Article
Convergent Traits in Mammals Associated with Divergent Behaviors: the Case of the Continuous Dental Replacement in Rock-Wallabies and African Mole-Rats
The study of convergences in mammals is crucial to understand the evolutionary processes underlying the origin of shared traits. A classic example is the independent evolution in the pygmy rock-wallaby, the si...
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Article
Open AccessThe hidden teeth of sloths: evolutionary vestiges and the development of a simplified dentition
Xenarthrans are unique among mammals in retaining simplified teeth that are rootless and homodont, which makes it difficult to determine dental homologies. We apply computerized tomography to prenatal developm...
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Article
Life in Burrows Channelled the Morphological Evolution of the Skull in Rodents: the Case of African Mole-Rats (Bathyergidae, Rodentia)
African mole-rats are fossorial rodents that consist of five chisel-tooth digging genera (Heterocephalus, Heliophobius, Georychus, Fukomys, and Cryptomys) and one scratch digger (Bathyergus). They are characteriz...
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Article
Roles of dental development and adaptation in rodent evolution
In paleontology, many changes affecting morphology, such as tooth shape in mammals, are interpreted as ecological adaptations that reflect important selective events. Despite continuing studies, the identifica...
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Article
Early adaptive radiations of Aplodontoidea (Rodentia, Mammalia) on the Holarctic region: systematics, and phylogenetic and paleobiogeographic implications
The Aplodontoidea, now restricted to only one North American species (Aplodontia rufa), have shown a wide Holarctic extension since the Upper Eocene. As their fossil record is poor, their phylogenetic relationshi...
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Article
Diet of the extinct Lava mouse Malpaisomys insularis from the Canary Islands: insights from dental microwear
Malpaisomys insularis is a mouse-like rodent endemic to the eastern Canary Islands. It became extinct during the fourteenth century. It was a remarkable species living under hyperarid conditions. A dental microwe...
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Article
Dental microwear patterns of extant and extinct Muridae (Rodentia, Mammalia): ecological implications
Extant species of Muridae occupy a wide array of habitats and have diverse dietary habits. Consequently, their dental microwear patterns represent a potential clue to better understand the paleoecology of thei...