Ecomorphological characterization of murines and non-arvicoline cricetids (Rodentia) from south-western Europe since the latest Middle Miocene to the Mio-Pliocene boundary (MN 7/8-MN13)
Gómez Cano, Ana Rosa (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)
Kimura, Yuri (National Museum of Nature and Science (Tokyo). Department of Geology and Paleontology)
Blanco, Fernando (Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Departamento de Paleontología)
Menéndez, Iris (Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Departamento de Paleontología)
Álvarez-Sierra, M. Ángeles (Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Departamento de Paleontología)
Hernández Fernández, Manuel (Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Departamento de Paleontología)

Data:	2017
Resum:	Rodents are the most speciose group of mammals and display a great ecological diversity. Despite the greater amount of ecomorphological information compiled for extant rodent species, studies usually lack of morphological data on dentition, which has led to difficulty in directly utilizing existing ecomorphological data of extant rodents for paleoecological reconstruction because teeth are the most common or often the only micromammal fossils. Here, we infer the environmental ranges of extinct rodent genera by extracting habitat information from extant relatives and linking it to extinct taxa based on the phenogram of the cluster analysis, in which variables are derived from the principal component analysis on outline shape of the upper first molars. This phenotypic ''bracketing'' approach is particularly useful in the study of the fossil record of small mammals, which is mostly represented by isolated teeth. As a case study, we utilize extinct genera of murines and non-arvicoline cricetids, ranging from the Iberoccitanian latest middle Miocene to the Mio-Pliocene boundary, and compare our results thoroughly with previous paleoecological reconstructions inferred by diferent methods. The resultant phenogram shows a predominance of ubiquitous genera among the Miocene taxa, and the presence of a few forest specialists in the two rodent groups (Murinae and Cricetidae), along with the absence of open environment specialists in either group of rodents. This appears to be related to the absence of enduring grassland biomes in the Iberian Peninsula during the late Miocene. High consistency between our result and previous studies suggests that this phenotypic ''bracketing'' approach is a very useful tool.
Ajuts:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CGL2015-68333-P Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CGL2011−28877 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CGL2010-19116/BTE Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CGL2006-01773/BOS
Nota:	SUBVENCIÓ: Universidad Complutense de Madrid: BOUC UCM 17-5-2016 (CT27 / 16-CT28 / 16)
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Fourier analysis ; Dental morphology ; Ecological characterization ; Phenogram ; Geometric morphometrics ; Paleoecology ; Rodentia ; Mammalia ; Miocene
Publicat a:	PeerJ, Vol. 5 (2017) , e3646, ISSN 2167-8359

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.3646
PMID: 28966888

27 p, 2.4 MB

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