RT Journal Article
T1 Shape at the cross-roads: Homoplasy and history in the evolution of the carnivoran skull towards herbivory
A1 Serrano Alarcón, Francisco José
A1 Figueirido-Castillo, Francisco Borja
A1 Slater, Graham
A1 Palmqvist-Barrena, Carlos Paul
K1 Homoplasia
K1 Evolución (Biología)
AB Patterns of skull shape in Carnivora provide examples of parallel and convergent evolution for similar ecomorphological adaptations. However, although most researchers report on skull homoplasies among hypercarnivorous taxa, evolutionary trends towards herbivory remain largely unexplored. In this study, we analyse the skull of the living herbivorous carnivorans to evaluate the importance of natural selection and phylogenetic legacy in shaping the skulls of these peculiar species. We quantitatively estimated shape variability using geometric morphometrics. A principal components analysis of skull shape incorporating all families of arctoid carnivorans recognized several common adaptations towards herbivory. Ancestral state reconstructions of skull shape and the reconstructed phylogenetic history of morphospace occupation more explicitly reveal the true patterns of homoplasy among the herbivorous carnivorans. Our results indicate that both historical constraints and adaptation have interplayed in the evolution towards herbivory of the carnivoran skull, which has resulted in repeated patterns of biomechanical homoplasy.
PB Wiley
YR 2010
FD 2010-12
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/32874
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/32874
LA eng
NO FIGUEIRIDO, B., SERRANO-ALARCÓN, F.J., SLATER, G.J. and PALMQVIST, P. (2010), Shape at the cross-roads: homoplasy and history in the evolution of the carnivoran skull towards herbivory. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 23: 2579-2594. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02117.x
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 20 ene 2026