RT Journal Article
T1 Investigating the land‑to‑sea transition in carnivorans from the evolution of sacrum morphology in pinnipeds
A1 Esteban Núñez, Juan Miguel
A1 Martín-Serra, Alberto
A1 Pérez-Ramos, Alejandro
A1 Rybczynski, Natalia
A1 Pastor, Francisco J.
A1 Figueirido-Castillo, Francisco Borja
K1 Pinípedos - Evolución
AB The form and function of the sacrum are of great relevance to understand the evolution of locomotion in tetrapods because itis a key piece of the vertebrate skeleton. The sacrum connects the caudal and presacral regions of the vertebral column andthe hindlimbs through the pelvis. Here, we investigate sacrum shape evolution in pinnipeds (Carnivora: Pinnipedia) in relationto terrestrial mammalian carnivorans (fissipeds), and we include crown and stem taxa to quantify the morphological changesthey experience in relation to the aquatic environment they inhabit. We use 3D geometric morphometric methods to explorethe morphological variability and disparity of the sacrum in a set of terrestrial and aquatic carnivoran species. Our resultsshow that the morphology of the sacrum of each pinniped family is remarkably different and that these differences may berelated to the aquatic mode of locomotion (pectoral or pelvic oscillation), the use of hindlimbs to support body weight onland (otariids in contrast with phocids), and the presence or absence of a functional tail. In addition, disparity-through-timeanalyses indicate that the sacrum of pinnipeds is less constrained than that of fissipeds, which suggests a gravitational originof such constraints in fissipeds. In conclusion, our results give further support to the important role played by this skeletalstructure in the locomotory adaptations of mammals.
PB Springer
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/26300
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/26300
LA eng
NO Esteban, J.M., Martín-Serra, A., Pérez-Ramos, A. et al. Investigating the land-to-sea transition in carnivorans from the evolution of sacrum morphology in pinnipeds. J Mammal Evol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-023-09650-y
NO Funding for open access publishing: Universidad Málaga/CBUA. This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Scienceand Universities (Grant # PID2019-111185GB-I00) and Junta de Andalucía (Grant # P18-FR-3193). Support for laser scanning the specimen of Puijila darwini was provided by the Canadian Museum of Nature.Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBUA
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 20 ene 2026