INVESTIGADORES
PREVOSTI Francisco Juan
artículos
Título:
FORM AND FUNCTION WITHIN A PHYLOGENETIC FRAMEWORK: LOCOMOTORY HABITS OF EXTANT PREDATORS AND SOME MIOCENE SPARASSODONTA (METATHERIA).
Autor/es:
MARCOS D. ERCOLI; FRANCISCO J. PREVOSTI; ALICIA ALVAREZ
Revista:
ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
Editorial:
WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC
Referencias:
Año: 2012 p. 224 - 251
ISSN:
0024-4082
Resumen:
The Sparassodonta are a group of carnivorous metatherians that inhabited South America during the Cenozoic. Locomotory habits of most species with postcranial remains have been previously assessed basically through descriptive studies. In this study, we inferred their locomotory habits through geometric morphometric techniques and discriminant analyses of distal humerus in anterior view, proximal ulna in lateral view, and tibia in proximal view. We included a wide sample of extant predators, and considered the phylogenetic and allometric structure in the datasets. Results suggest a considerable relationship between shape and locomotory habits, even after removing the shape component explained by phylogeny in the three postcranial elements. Arctodictis sinclairi, Borhyaena tuberata “Lycopsis” longirostrus and Thylacosmilus atrox were assigned to terrestrial habits. Some degree of cursoriality was highlighted in B. tuberata and T. atrox, and climbing habilities in “L.” longirostrus, and secondly in B. tuberata. Cladosictis patagonica, Sipacyon gracilis, Prothylacynus patagonicus and Pseudonotictis pusillus were assigned to scansorial habits, and in the case of C. patagonica, some digging ability was also tentatively assigned.