20.500.12556/DKUM-67196 Morphological evolution of the skull in closely related bandicoot rats a comparative study using geometric morphometrics We addressed the effects of phylogeny, ecology, and allometry on shape variation in ventral cranium, mandible and maxillary tooth-row in all five extant bandicoot rats. These rats are classified into two genera (Bandicota and Nesokia) and occupy different ecological niches along fossorial to aquatic gradient. The analysed structures are controlled by different gene loci, have diverse developmental patterns and different functional roles what induced us to hypothesize that they respond differently to the interplay between phylogenetic constrains and selective pressures. This was indeed the case in our results. Ventral cranial shape contained an apparent phylogenetic signal at various levels of taxonomic hierarchy of bandicoot rats and therefore accurately replicated the taxonomic hierarchy within the group. Molar crowns, which are less rich in anatomical complexity than the ventral cranium, provided a taxonomic grouping that was less straightforward in comparison with the skull. The phylogenetic signal was diluted in the mandible, probably by adaptive trends for the ecological niche. Unsurprisingly, an ecological gradient from a fossorial to aquatic ecotype explained 19.1% of mandibular shape variation. The major differences between ecotypes were on mandibular landmarks associated with insertion of major muscles that move the mandible during chisel-tooth drilling in fossorial B. bengalensis and N. indica. Among the three structures, the mandible was also the most affected by allometry, with size accounting for 14.0% of shape variability. Nesokia and Bandicota are by far the youngest murine taxa still attributed to a generic level. Small genetic differences however sharply contrast with unique shape features, evident in craniodental structures of these rats. This is particularly relevant for the endangered N. bunnii which is only known from a small range and peripheral isolate in Iraq. Morphological uniqueness emphasizes its ‘value’ in conservation policies more accurately than genetic metrics, making it more “visible” in a bunch of pest rats. fossorial ecotype mandible molars phenotypic plasticity phylogenetic structuring čeljustnica meljaki filogenetska plastičnost filogenetska struktura ekotip Bandicota Erythronesokia Nesokia true true true Associazione Teriologica Italiana Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Znanstveno delo 2017-08-07 09:14:52 2017-08-07 09:15:48 2026-09-03 11:45:21 2019-07-11 16:12:12 2016 0 0 str. 1-7 št. 2 Letn. 27 2016 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 2015-12-07 2016-06-12 0000-00-00 0394-1914 599.323.45 15461893 22920456 10.4404/hystrix-27.2-11639 0394-1914 URN:SI:UM:DK:ZBMUGKGM Hystrix_2016_Krystufek_et_al._Morphological_evolution_of_the_skull_in_closely_related_bandicoot_rats_a_comparative_study_using_geometric.pdf Hystrix_2016_Krystufek_et_al._Morphological_evolution_of_the_skull_in_closely_related_bandicoot_rats_a_comparative_study_using_geometric.pdf 1 971BF3CFE09E62FC41B174C5FD4B8319 374ccf516fbe52e870c6d7a7b95e813bf17edcf9accdf4bd1f631deeb220100e 7c2717db-7c0e-11eb-bb7a-00155d0001ca 20.500.12556/dkum/8660ed8e-d58d-4c49-9f8a-9654c2fe01c4 https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=114917 http://www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/article/view/11639 1 https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=114916 Fakulteta za naravoslovje in matematiko 0 0 0