Biology of caviomorph rodents: diversity and evolution.

VASSALLO, ALDO IVÁN; ANTENUCCI, CDANIEL

SAREM

Lugar: Mendoza; Año: 2015 p. 385

978-987-98497-3-6

Caviomorph rodents: an introductionA.I. Vassallo and C.D. AntenuchiAims and scope. This book covers aspects of evolutionary history and adaptive diversity of a group of rodents known as caviomorph, one of whose main features is that they evolved in South America, where it probably arrived from Africa. But in addition to focusing on a particular group of animals, this book aims to address general issues related to evolutionary biology. We asked the following question: what light may be shed the study of caviomorph on certain ecological evolutionary processes? Evolutionary biology is perhaps one of the most integrative disciplines of biology, as it draws on disciplines such as morphology, ecology, genetics, physiology, behavior, and biogeography. So, the study of a particular taxonomic group but integrating different disciplines could help to answer more general questions concerning evolution.By themselves, rodents are extremely diverse, including more than 2000 living species; therefore it is the order of mammals with the largest number of species. In addition to the quantitative side, because their contribution to the large number of species included into to the Order Rodentia, caviomorph have a huge adaptive diversity. This diversity is probably the outcome of the ability of this group to respond to environmental challenges with very different morphological, physiological and behavioral adaptations, which have given rise to a great diversity of ecological niches. The extent of these adaptations seems to overcome qualitatively those that are seen not only in the remaining groups of rodents, but also in various groups of mammals. This leads to the fact that the image, or physiognomy of what is usually considered a typical rodent (e.g. Rattus; Mus; squirrel) differs greatly from the picture we get when we look a mara, a capybara, or a tuco tuco. When studying the diversity and evolution of a particular group of organisms, there are today very different disciplines with their methodologies, allowing increasingly narrow questions to answer. However, it has been said that species evolve as a whole, responding in some way with all their "phenotypic and genotypic baggage?. One can hardly wonder about the adaptive value of a particular trait isolated and detached from the rest of the features of the species. In this book we have gathered a number of studies on the biology of caviomorph rodents because we have the opinion that their study has advanced significantly in the last two decades. We believe it is time to attempt a new synthesis or integration of the contributions made from different disciplines. We want to mention here the excellent book ?The biology of hystricognath rodents? (1974), by Barbara Weir and Rowlands, which is one of the most important background on this group of rodents.