POSTNATAL ONTOGENY OF THE SKULL OF LYCALOPEX CULPAEUS (CARNIVORA: CANIDAE).

SEGURA, V.; PREVOSTI, F. J.

ZOOMORPHOLOGY (BERLIN. PRINT)

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2012 vol. 131 p. 79 - 92

0720-213X

The study of cranial ontogeny is important forunderstanding the relationship between form and functionin developmental, ecological, and evolutionary contexts.The transition from lactation to the diet of adult carnivoresmust be accompanied by pronounced modiWcations in skullmorphology and feeding behavior. Our goal was to studyrelative growth and development in the skull ontogeny ofthe canid Lycalopex culpaeus, and interpret our Wndings ina functional context, thereby exploring the relationshipbetween changes in shape and size with dietary habits andage stages. We performed quantitative analyses, includingmultivariate allometry and geometric morphometrics. Ourresults indicate that shape changes are related to functionalimprovements of the jaw mechanics related for food catch-ing/processing. Estimates of full muscle size, mechanicaladvantage, and adult cranial shape are reached after sexualmaturity, while adult mandible and skull size are reachedafter weaning, which is related to diet change (incorpora-tion of meat and other food items). The ontogenetic patternobserved in L. culpaeus is similar to those observed inCommunicated by T. Bartolomaeus.Electronic supplementary material The online version of thisarticle (doi:10.1007/s00435-012-0145-4) contains supplementarymaterial, which is available to authorized users.V. Segura (&) · F. PrevostiDivisión Mastozoología, Museo Argentino de CienciasNaturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, Av. Ángel Gallardo 470,CP 1405, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentinae-mail: vsegura@macn.gov.ar; valu_z@yahoo.com.arV. Segura · F. PrevostiCONICET. Consejo Nacional de InvestigacionesCientíWcas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, ArgentinaCanis familiaris and C. latrans. However, the magnitude ofchange seen in L. culpaeus is smaller than those seen in thefelid Puma concolor and considerably smaller than thoseseen in the bone cracker hyaenid Crocuta crocuta. Thesepatterns are associated with dietary habits and specializa-tions in skull anatomy, as L. culpaeus, domestic dog andcoyote are generalist species compared with hypercarni-vores such as C. crocuta and P. concolor.