The caviomorph rodents: distribution and ecological diversification

OJEDA RICARDO ALBERTO; AGUSTINA A. OJEDA; AGUSTINA NOVILLO

Sociobiology of Caviomorph Rodents: An Integrative Approach

Wiley

Lugar: Chichester, West Sussex; Año: 2016;

The mammal fauna of the Neotropical Region can be divided into three distinctfaunal strata reflecting younger and older faunal contingents (Simpson 1980;Webb & Marshall 1982). The first stratum is comprised of the ancient fauna ofthe early Cenozoic, which includes armadillos, giant anteaters, marsupials, anda diverse group of autochthonous ungulates. The second stratum is made upof allochthonous lineages, which includes hystricognath (caviomorph) rodents,primates, procyonids, cricetid rodents, emballonurid and vespertilionid bats, andtrichechid sirenians. The third stratum includes other more recent taxa. Hystricognathrodents probably arrived from Africa between 45.4 and 36.7Ma (Pouxet al. 2006). The oldest known records of this South American endemic lineageare small (30?120g) caviomorph rodents, which occurred during the MiddleEocene in Peru (about 41 Ma; Antoine et al. 2012). Caviomorphs diversifiedrapidly into major clades during the Eocene-Oligocene (Antoine et al. 2012;Bertrand et al. 2012) and radiated in different directions, in terms of body size,ecomorphological, physiological, and behavioral traits. As a result, these animalsexhibit ecological convergence with several orders of mammals such ashyracoids, ungulates, and lagomorphs (Eisenberg 1981; Mares & Ojeda 1982;Lessa et al. 2008).