DOCSLIB.ORG

In the Pleistocene of South America: Biogeographic and Paleoenvironmental Implications

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
In the Pleistocene of South America: Biogeographic and Paleoenvironmental Implications Journal of South American Earth Sciences 82 (2018) 76e90 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of South American Earth Sciences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsames The southernmost record of a large erethizontid rodent (Hystricomorpha: Erethizontoidea) in the Pleistocene of South America: Biogeographic and paleoenvironmental implications * Raúl I. Vezzosi a, , Leonardo Kerber b a Laboratorio de Paleontología de Vertebrados, Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Produccion, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnicas, Materi y Espana,~ E3105BWA, Diamante, Argentina b CAPPA - Centro de Apoio a Pesquisa Paleontologica da Quarta Colonia,^ Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Sao~ Joao~ do Pol^esine, Rua Maximiliano Vizzotto, 598, CEP 97230-000, Brazil article info abstract Article history: The South American porcupines (Erethizontidae) are included in two genera: Chaetomys and Coendou. Received 19 October 2017 The latter is a very speciose taxon, with about 13 living species. During at least the late Plioceneeearly Received in revised form Pleistocene, erethizontids immigrated to Central and North America during the Great American Biotic 23 December 2017 Interchange. Although some Pleistocene fossils have been reported, the Quaternary history of this clade Accepted 24 December 2017 is still understudied. The only known extinct species is Coendou magnus. In this work, a fossil of a Available online 30 December 2017 porcupine is reported from an Upper Pleistocene fluvial sedimentary sequence cropping out in the Northern Pampa geomorphological region, Santa Fe Province, Argentina. Despite this group having Keywords: Fossil record different living forms widely distributed in South American Neotropical woodland habitats, the Pleis- Quaternary tocene occurrences of Erethizontidae are scarce and limited to Upper Pleistocene deposits from Bolivia, Regional extinction Brazil, and Uruguay. Currently, the specimen here reported represents the only Pleistocene porcupine Distribution displacement from Argentina with a stratigraphical context. The morphological characters as well as the dimensions Environmental changes indicate that it is close to the Pleistocene erethizontid Coendou magnus. In this context, the presence of this erethizontid in such a southern locality, together with other taxa recorded from this site and the associated geological and paleoenvironmental evidence, indicates subtropical conditions, compared with the current conditions, which may have allowed a southern displacement of taxa more related to woodlands and xeric subtropical environments. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Patterson, 2015). Commonly known as porcupines, or ‘puercoes- pines’ in the Spanish language, this group is restricted to the Among Hystricognathi rodents, the Erethizontidae (the New Americas. The living representatives of this clade include three World porcupines) is a clade morphologically disparate from other living genera allocated to two ‘subfamilies’ that collectively range caviomorphs, which has led some authors to suppose that they from boreal North America (Alaska and northern Canada) to sub- were the first lineage to differentiate from other forms during the tropical South America (Uruguay and northern Argentina): Coendou early evolutionary history of Caviomorpha (Bugge, 1971; Woods, Lacep ede, 1799, Erethizon Cuvier, 1822 and Chaetomys Gray, 1843 1972; Bryant and McKenna, 1995; Candela, 1999). However, with (see Tate, 1935; Woods, 1973; Alberico et al., 1999; Bonvicino et al., the increase in the resolution of time-calibrated phylogenies based 2002; Voss, 2011; Voss et al., 2013). From a taxonomical approach, on molecular data, today they are considered the sister-group to at least 13 living Neotropical species of Coendou inhabit Central to Cavioidea, with a simultaneous period of diversification of the South America in tropical and subtropical moist and dry forests other higher-level clades within Caviomorpha (Upham and from sea level to about 3500 m (Voss and Angermann, 1997; Voss and da Silva, 2001; Voss, 2015). The semi-arboreal Erethizon dor- satum (Linnaeus, 1758) is the only monotypic extant species in * Corresponding author. temperate North America, from northern Mexico to Alaska and E-mail addresses: [email protected] (R.I. Vezzosi), leonardokerber@gmail. Canada (Roze, 1989). The southernmost distribution of Coendou is com (L. Kerber). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2017.12.015 0895-9811/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. R.I. Vezzosi, L. Kerber / Journal of South American Earth Sciences 82 (2018) 76e90 77 recorded in northern Argentina and Uruguay (Anderson, 1997; Here, we expand the fossil record of South American Quaternary Emmons, 1997; Barquez et al., 2006; Gonzalez and Martínez erethizontids and report the first undoubted occurrence for the Lanfranco, 2010). These forms are strictly adapted to an arboreal Pleistocene of Argentina, recovered from fluvial sedimentary de- life, thereby restricting their home range. Nevertheless, there are posits of the Upper Pleistocene sequence in the Carcaran~a River also species distributed in open and transitional areas such as the fossiliferous area. Moreover, we discuss the relevance of Erethi- Cerrado and Caatinga in Brazil, the Venezuelan plains in Venezuela, zontidae in the austral temperate plains. and the austral Chaco in Bolivia and northern Argentina (Roze, This area is an interesting fossiliferous site that has yielded a 1989; Anderson, 1997; Parera, 2002; Candela and Morrone, 2003; large number of megamammal specimens for many years Barquez et al., 2006). In this sense, the particular adaptation of (Frenguelli, 1928; Castellanos, 1943; Bordas, 1942; Brandoni and the Neotropical erethizontids to a particular environment such as McDonald, 2015; Vezzosi, 2015). However, many of them are woodlands (Candela and Morrone, 2003) could suggest that their without an accurate stratigraphical context (see discussion in evolution and geographical distribution were driven by this life- Vezzosi, 2015; Vezzosi et al., 2017). The specimen here described is style, which is strongly associated with these environments. possibly related to the only extinct species of Quaternary erethi- Fossil records are known from the late Oligocene to middle zontid from South America. This taxon was erected in the nine- Miocene of Patagonia, the Oligocene of Bolivia, and from the middle teenth century based on a few records from Brazilian Holocene Miocene of La Venta in Colombia (Ameghino, 1887; Simpson, 1950; caves and is the largest extinct South American porcupine that lived Wood and Patterson, 1959; Hoffstetter and Lavocat, 1970; Walton, in PleistoceneeHolocene times (Lund, 1839; Winge, 1887). 1997; Candela, 1999, 2002). During the late Miocene (Huay- querian SALMA or Tortonian Global Stage/Age; Bossi and Muruaga, 2. Materials and methods 2009) the taxonomic richness and distribution of the group decreased drastically in southern South America; only the giant In order to identify and define anatomical and proportional porcupines Neosteiromys bombifrons Rovereto, 1914 and Neo- differences in the fossil from Santa Fe, we studied numerous den- steiromys pattoni Candela, 2004 survived in northwestern taries and teeth series of fossil and living erethizontids, which have Argentina, as well as the monospecific Paradoxomys cancrivorus sufficient anatomical complexity to permit the recognition of Ameghino, 1885 from northeastern Argentina (‘Conglomerado consistent differences between the genera and species. Osífero’, lower member of the Ituzaingo Fm., Huayquerian Stage/ Age; Frenguelli, 1920; Vucetich and Candela, 2001; Brunetto et al., 2.1. Anatomical terminology 2013). PlioePleistocene (Stage/Age late Blancaneearly Irvingtonian) The anatomical nomenclature follows Woods and Howland erethizontids from North America belong only to the genus Ere- (1979), Frazier (1981), Perez (2010), and Sussman (2011) for the thizon (Frazier, 1981; Simpson, 1950; Webb, 1976; Morgan and dentary, and Marivaux et al. (2004) for the tetralophodont molars: Hulbert, 1995; Hulbert, 1997). However, many Erethizon species Afd, anterofossetid; chin, posterior joint of the symphysis; cp, have been assigned to the South American genus Coendou with coronoid process; cop, condylar process; hc, horizontal crest; hg, some new species (White, 1968, 1970; Sussman et al., 2016); hystricognathous groove, Hfd, hypoflexid; Hld, hypolophid; HD, although, the assignments of extinct species to this genus (versus height of dentary; i, incisor; ln, lunar notch; LS, length of the dental Erethizon) are sometimes controversial (Sussman, 2011). series; LLW, labio-lingual width; MDW, mesio-distal width; m; Erethizon dorsatum is well recorded in the loweremiddle molar; mc, masseteric crest; maf, mandibular foramen; mf, men- Pleistocene (Stage/Age middle Irvingtonian) and Holocene of North tonian foramen; mn, mandibular notch; Med I, metalophid I; Med America (Frazier, 1981; Hulbert, 1997). In contrast, the reliable fossil II, metalophid II; Mfd, metaflexid; Msd, mesoflexid; pma, premolar record of South American porcupines is very scarce towards the alveolus; ptc, pterygoid crest; Psd, posterolophid; rf, retromolar southern portion of the continent, encompassing the extinct spe- fossa; sys, symphysis. cies Coendou magnus Lund, 1839 from the middleelate Pleistocene of Bolivia (Tarija Valley; Hoffstetter, 1963), late Pleistoceneeearly 2.2. Institutional abbreviations
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Socioeconomic and Ecological Aspects of Field Rat Control in Tropical and Subtropical Countries Bans Kurylas
    SOCIOECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF FIELD RAT CONTROL IN TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL COUNTRIES BANS KURYLAS. Thai-German Rodent Control Project. German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), P.O. Box 9-34, Bangkok. Thailand. ABSTRACT: The vital question. as to the cause of the pennanent increase in field rat populations throughout most tropical and subtropical areas. has been the subject of researchers and fielcM!en during the past years, in the hope of finding an answer to this problem. Man has made his way through history wherein he was gradually able to renounce nature and establish his own man-made cultural frame. Unlike other marrmals. man has no natural instincts to guide him through life. Brain and spirit have to compensate for lack of. physical capabilities and instincts. Man was forced to change his natural surroundings in order to serve his special and ever-growing needs . Survival meant not only using nature but more so changing it in order to develop his culture. The field rat has become man's "cultural treader"! Myomorpha is the largest suborder of the Order Rodentia. Of the 1700 rodents known to man. more than 1100 belong to this group. The greater part of the Myomorpha species are found within two families, which are Cricetidae with about 567 species and Muridae with about 475 species. Most of these rodents live either in trees or under the ground. They rarely collide with man's interest. Only a few rodent species have become "field rats" and seem to dwell in and utilize man's cultural steppe. Some species have even become cosmopolitan and are found in Europe.
    [Show full text]
  • Redalyc.A Distinctive New Cloud-Forest Rodent (Hystriocognathi: Echimyidae) from the Manu Biosphere Reserve, Peru
    Mastozoología Neotropical ISSN: 0327-9383 [email protected] Sociedad Argentina para el Estudio de los Mamíferos Argentina Patterson, Bruce D.; Velazco, Paul M. A distinctive new cloud-forest rodent (Hystriocognathi: Echimyidae) from the Manu Biosphere Reserve, Peru Mastozoología Neotropical, vol. 13, núm. 2, julio-diciembre, 2006, pp. 175-191 Sociedad Argentina para el Estudio de los Mamíferos Tucumán, Argentina Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=45713202 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative Mastozoología Neotropical, 13(2):175-191, Mendoza, 2006 ISSN 0327-9383 ©SAREM, 2006 Versión on-line ISSN 1666-0536 www.cricyt.edu.ar/mn.htm A DISTINCTIVE NEW CLOUD-FOREST RODENT (HYSTRICOGNATHI: ECHIMYIDAE) FROM THE MANU BIOSPHERE RESERVE, PERU Bruce D. Patterson1 and Paul M. Velazco1, 2 1 Department of Zoology, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 S. Lake Shore Dr, Chicago IL 60605-2496 USA. 2 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 W. Taylor St, Chicago IL 60607 USA ABSTRACT: Recent surveys in Peru’s Manu National Park and Biosphere Reserve uncovered a new species of hystricognath rodent, a spiny rat (Echimyidae) with dense, soft fur. Inhabiting Andean cloud-forests at 1900 m, the new rodent belongs to a radiation of “brush- tailed tree rats” previously known only from the Amazon, Orinoco, and other lowland river drainages. Phylogenetic analysis of morphology (cranial and dental characters) unambiguously allies the new species with species of Isothrix.
    [Show full text]
  • Learning About Mammals
    Learning About Mammals The mammals (Class Mammalia) includes everything from mice to elephants, bats to whales and, of course, man. The amazing diversity of mammals is what has allowed them to live in any habitat from desert to arctic to the deep ocean. They live in trees, they live on the ground, they live underground, and in caves. Some are active during the day (diurnal), while some are active at night (nocturnal) and some are just active at dawn and dusk (crepuscular). They live alone (solitary) or in great herds (gregarious). They mate for life (monogamous) or form harems (polygamous). They eat meat (carnivores), they eat plants (herbivores) and they eat both (omnivores). They fill every niche imaginable. Mammals come in all shapes and sizes from the tiny pygmy shrew, weighing 1/10 of an ounce (2.8 grams), to the blue whale, weighing more than 300,000 pounds! They have a huge variation in life span from a small rodent living one year to an elephant living 70 years. Generally, the bigger the mammal, the longer the life span, except for bats, which are as small as rodents, but can live for up to 20 years. Though huge variation exists in mammals, there are a few physical traits that unite them. 1) Mammals are covered with body hair (fur). Though marine mammals, like dolphins and whales, have traded the benefits of body hair for better aerodynamics for traveling in water, they do still have some bristly hair on their faces (and embryonically - before birth). Hair is important for keeping mammals warm in cold climates, protecting them from sunburn and scratches, and used to warn off others, like when a dog raises the hair on its neck.
    [Show full text]
  • Perissodactyla: Tapirus) Hints at Subtle Variations in Locomotor Ecology
    JOURNAL OF MORPHOLOGY 277:1469–1485 (2016) A Three-Dimensional Morphometric Analysis of Upper Forelimb Morphology in the Enigmatic Tapir (Perissodactyla: Tapirus) Hints at Subtle Variations in Locomotor Ecology Jamie A. MacLaren1* and Sandra Nauwelaerts1,2 1Department of Biology, Universiteit Antwerpen, Building D, Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein, Wilrijk, Antwerp 2610, Belgium 2Centre for Research and Conservation, Koninklijke Maatschappij Voor Dierkunde (KMDA), Koningin Astridplein 26, Antwerp 2018, Belgium ABSTRACT Forelimb morphology is an indicator for order Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates). Modern terrestrial locomotor ecology. The limb morphology of the tapirs are widely accepted to belong to a single enigmatic tapir (Perissodactyla: Tapirus) has often been genus (Tapirus), containing four extant species compared to that of basal perissodactyls, despite the lack (Hulbert, 1973; Ruiz-Garcıa et al., 1985) and sev- of quantitative studies comparing forelimb variation in eral regional subspecies (Padilla and Dowler, 1965; modern tapirs. Here, we present a quantitative assess- ment of tapir upper forelimb osteology using three- Wilson and Reeder, 2005): the Baird’s tapir (T. dimensional geometric morphometrics to test whether bairdii), lowland tapir (T. terrestris), mountain the four modern tapir species are monomorphic in their tapir (T. pinchaque), and the Malayan tapir (T. forelimb skeleton. The shape of the upper forelimb bones indicus). Extant tapirs primarily inhabit tropical across four species (T. indicus; T. bairdii; T. terrestris; T. rainforest, with some populations also occupying pinchaque) was investigated. Bones were laser scanned wet grassland and chaparral biomes (Padilla and to capture surface morphology and 3D landmark analysis Dowler, 1965; Padilla et al., 1996). was used to quantify shape.
    [Show full text]
  • Dental Homologies and Evolutionary Transformations In
    Dental homologies and evolutionary transformations in Caviomorpha (Hystricognathi, Rodentia): new data from the Paleogene of Peruvian Amazonia Myriam Boivin, Laurent Marivaux To cite this version: Myriam Boivin, Laurent Marivaux. Dental homologies and evolutionary transformations in Caviomor- pha (Hystricognathi, Rodentia): new data from the Paleogene of Peruvian Amazonia. Historical Biology, Taylor & Francis, 2020, 32 (4), pp.528-554. 10.1080/08912963.2018.1506778. hal-01870927 HAL Id: hal-01870927 https://hal.umontpellier.fr/hal-01870927 Submitted on 17 Jun 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Page 1 of 118 Historical Biology 1 2 3 Dental homologies and evolutionary transformations in Caviomorpha (Hystricognathi, 4 5 Rodentia): new data from the Paleogene of Peruvian Amazonia 6 7 8 9 10 a* a 11 Myriam Boivin and Laurent Marivaux 12 13 14 15 a Laboratoire de Paléontologie, Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier (ISE-M), c.c. 16 For Peer Review Only 17 18 064, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, place Eugène Bataillon, F-34095 19 20 Montpellier Cedex 05, France. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 *Corresponding author.
    [Show full text]
  • Rodentia: Erethizontidae) Therya, Vol
    Therya E-ISSN: 2007-3364 [email protected] Asociación Mexicana de Mastozoología México LEON-ALVARADO, OMAR DANIEL; RAMÍREZ-CHAVES, HÉCTOR E. Morphological description of the glans penis and baculum of Coendou quichua (Rodentia: Erethizontidae) Therya, vol. 8, núm. 3, 2017, pp. 263-267 Asociación Mexicana de Mastozoología Baja California Sur, México Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=402352772011 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative THERYA, 2017, Vol. 8 (3): 263-268 DOI: 10.12933/therya- 17-495 ISSN 2007-3364 Morphological description of the glans penis and baculum of Coendou quichua (Rodentia: Erethizontidae) OMAR D ANIEL LEON-ALVARA DO 1* AN D H ÉCT OR E. RAMÍREZ -CHAVES 2 1 Laboratorio de Sistemática y Biogeografía, Escuela de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Industrial de Santander. Carrera 27 9, A. A. 678, Bucaramanga, Colombia. E-mail: [email protected] (ODLA) 2 Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Caldas. Calle 65 26-10, A. A. 275, Manizales, Colombia. E-mail: [email protected] * Corresponding author External morphology of the glans and baculum are important characters for specic delimitation, especially for rodents (Simson et al. 1995). However, for Erethizontidae there are few descriptive works; in fact, for Neotropical porcupines of the genus Coendou there is just one brief contribution for an indeterminate species by Pocock in 1922.
    [Show full text]
  • Host and Viral Traits Predict Zoonotic Spillover from Mammals Kevin J
    LETTER doi:10.1038/nature22975 Host and viral traits predict zoonotic spillover from mammals Kevin J. Olival1, Parviez R. Hosseini1, Carlos Zambrana-Torrelio1, Noam Ross1, Tiffany L. Bogich1 & Peter Daszak1 The majority of human emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, highest for Bunya-, Flavi- and Arenaviruses in rodents; Flavi-, Bunya- with viruses that originate in wild mammals of particular concern and Rhabdoviruses in bats; and Herpesviruses in non-human primates (for example, HIV, Ebola and SARS)1–3. Understanding patterns (Extended Data Fig. 2). Of 586 mammalian viruses in our dataset, of viral diversity in wildlife and determinants of successful cross- 263 (44.9%) have been detected in humans, 75 of which are exclu- species transmission, or spillover, are therefore key goals for sively human and 188 (71.5% of human viruses) zoonotic—defined pandemic surveillance programs4. However, few analytical tools operationally here as viruses detected at least once in humans and at exist to identify which host species are likely to harbour the next least once in another mammal species (Methods). The proportion human virus, or which viruses can cross species boundaries5–7. Here of zoonotic viruses is higher for RNA (159 of 382, 41.6%) than DNA we conduct a comprehensive analysis of mammalian host–virus (29 of 205, 14.1%) viruses. The observed number of viruses per wild relationships and show that both the total number of viruses that host species was comparable when averaged across orders, but bats, infect a given species and the proportion likely to be zoonotic are primates, and rodents had a higher proportion of observed zoonotic predictable.
    [Show full text]
  • Nocturnal Rodents
    Nocturnal Rodents Peter Holm Objectives (Chaetodipus spp. and Perognathus spp.) and The monitoring protocol handbook (Petryszyn kangaroo rats (Dipodomys spp.) belong to the 1995) states: “to document general trends in family Heteromyidae (heteromyids), while the nocturnal rodent population size on an annual white-throated woodrats (Neotoma albigula), basis across a representative sample of habitat Arizona cotton rat (Sigmodon arizonae), cactus types present in the monument”. mouse (Peromyscus eremicus), and grasshopper mouse (Onychomys torridus), belong to the family Introduction Muridae. Sigmodon arizonae, a native riparian Nocturnal rodents constitute the prey base for species relatively new to OPCNM, has been many snakes, owls, and carnivorous mammals. recorded at the Dos Lomitas and Salsola EMP All nocturnal rodents, except for the grasshopper sites, adjacent to Mexican agricultural fields. mouse, are primary consumers. Whereas Botta’s pocket gopher (Thomomys bottae) is the heteromyids constitute an important guild lone representative of the family Geomyidae. See of granivores, murids feed primarily on fruit Petryszyn and Russ (1996), Hoffmeister (1986), and foliage. Rodents are also responsible for Petterson (1999), Rosen (2000), and references considerable excavation and mixing of soil layers therein, for a thorough review. (bioturbation), “predation” on plants and seeds, as well as the dispersal and caching of plant seeds. As part of the Sensitive Ecosystems Project, Petryszyn and Russ (1996) conducted a baseline Rodents are common in all monument habitats, study originally titled, Special Status Mammals are easily captured and identified, have small of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. They home ranges, have high fecundity, and respond surveyed for nocturnal rodents and other quickly to changes in primary productivity and mammals in various habitats throughout the disturbance (Petryszyn 1995, Petryszyn and Russ monument and found that murids dominated 1996, Petterson 1999).
    [Show full text]
  • Critter Class Porcupines
    Critter Class Porcupines North American Porcupine October 6, 2011 MVK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y4cQEEyuTw Porcupine Comment: How absolutely precious! I love him!!! Comment: The baby looked so soft and cute, not what I would have thought Cute video Comment: Porcupine. Yippee!! Hi MVK. How was your day today?? Comment: Awwww toooo cute!!! Comment: How cute is that! Comment: OUCH! Comment: Evening MVK and EN - Porcupines - wow - funny little critters or what!!! Good choice♥♥♥ Critter Class – Porcupine 1 10/6/2011 Comment: Oh my goodness -----how cute is that baby porcupine!! I really don't know much about them. He was using his paws so well. Do they have thumbs like raccoons? Comment: Oh my word, isn't that baby cute! And such a dainty eater! Comment: Is that a porcupine? Pulled many of quills from my dogs. Comment: Oh, one of my favorite animals. I love our type, and those snazzy African ones whose head look like they are wearing a fancy Parisian hat. I just love porcupines! MVK: Porcupines have soft hair, but on their back, sides, and tail it is usually mixed with sharp quills. These quills typically lie flat until a porcupine is threatened, then leap to attention as a persuasive deterrent. Porcupines cannot shoot them at predators as once thought, but the quills do detach easily when touched. from National Geographic MVK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYC0IYuOYLw&NR=1 MVK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqc5jJQwVu8&feature=relmfu MVK: This little porcupine's mother was hit and killed by a car.
    [Show full text]
  • Over 40% of All Mammal Species in the Next 2 Labs
    Rodents Class Rodentia 5 (depends) Suborders 33 (maybe more) Families about 481 genera, 2277+ species Over 40% of all mammal species in the next 2 labs Sciuromorpha: squirrels, dormice, mountain beaver, and relatives Castorimorpha: beavers, gophers, kangaroo rats, pocket mice, and relatives Myomorpha: mice, rats, gerbils, jerboas, and relatives Anomaluromorpha: scaly-tailed squirrels and springhares Hystricomorpha: hystricognath rodents...lots of South American and African species, mostly Because rodents are such a Why rodents are evil... diverse and speciose group, their higher-level taxonomy keeps being revised. Hard to keep up! In recent decades, there have been 2, 3, 4 or 5 Suborders, depending on the revision, and Families keep getting pooled and split. We’ll just focus on some of the important Families and leave their relationships to future generations. They are a diverse and Why rodents are fun... speciose group, occur in just about every kind of habitat and climate, and show the broadest ecological diversity of any group of mammals. There are terrestrial, arboreal, scansorial, subterranean, and semiaquatic rodents. There are solitary, pair-forming, and social rodents. There are plantigrade, cursorial, You could spend your whole fossorial, bipedal, swimming life studying this group! and gliding rodents. (Some do.) General characteristics of rodents •Specialized ever-growing, self-sharpening incisors (2 upper, 2 lower) separated from cheek teeth by diastema; no canines •Cheek teeth may be ever-growing or rooted, but show a variety of cusp patterns, often with complex loops and folds of enamel and dentine reflecting the diet; cusp patterns also often useful taxonomically •Mostly small, average range of body size is 20-100 g, but some can get pretty large (capybara is largest extant species, may reach 50 kg) •Mostly herbivorous (including some specialized as folivores and granivores) or omnivorous •Females with duplex uterus, baculum present in males •Worldwide distribution, wide range of habitats and ecologies And now, on to a few Families..
    [Show full text]
  • Early Oligocene Chinchilloid Caviomorphs from Puerto Rico and the Initial Rodent Colonization of the West Indies
    Early Oligocene chinchilloid caviomorphs from Puerto Rico and the initial rodent colonization of the West Indies Laurent Marivaux, Jorge Vélez-Juarbe, Gilles Merzeraud, Francois Pujos, Lázaro Viñola López, Myriam Boivin, Hernán Santos-Mercado, Eduardo Cruz, Alexandra Grajales, James Padilla, et al. To cite this version: Laurent Marivaux, Jorge Vélez-Juarbe, Gilles Merzeraud, Francois Pujos, Lázaro Viñola López, et al.. Early Oligocene chinchilloid caviomorphs from Puerto Rico and the initial rodent colonization of the West Indies. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Royal Society, The, 2020, 287, pp.20192806. 10.1098/rspb.2019.2806. hal-02477415 HAL Id: hal-02477415 https://hal.umontpellier.fr/hal-02477415 Submitted on 17 Jun 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Page 3 of 24 Submitted to Proceedings of the Royal Society B: For Review Only Early Oligocene chinchilloid caviomorphs from Puerto Rico and the initial rodent colonisation of the West Indies Laurent Marivaux1, Jorge Vélez-Juarbe2, Gilles Merzeraud3, François Pujos4, Lázaro W. Viñola López5, Myriam Boivin6, Hernán Santos-Mercado7, Eduardo J. Cruz7, Alexandra Grajales7, James Padilla7, Kevin I. Vélez-Rosado8, Mélody Philippon9, Jean-Len Léticée9, Philippe Münch3 and Pierre-Olivier Antoine1 1Laboratoire de Paléontologie, Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier (ISE-M, UMR 5554, CNRS/UM/IRD/EPHE), c.c.
    [Show full text]
  • Redalyc.RODENTS of the SUBFAMILY CAVIINAE
    Mastozoología Neotropical ISSN: 0327-9383 [email protected] Sociedad Argentina para el Estudio de los Mamíferos Argentina Guglielmone, Alberto A.; Nava, Santiago RODENTS OF THE SUBFAMILY CAVIINAE (HYSTRICOGNATHI, CAVIIDAE) AS HOSTS FOR HARD TICKS (ACARI: IXODIDAE) Mastozoología Neotropical, vol. 17, núm. 2, julio-diciembre, 2010, pp. 279-286 Sociedad Argentina para el Estudio de los Mamíferos Tucumán, Argentina Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=45717021003 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative Mastozoología Neotropical, 17(2):279-286, Mendoza, 2010 ISSN 0327-9383 ©SAREM, 2010 Versión on-line ISSN 1666-0536 http://www.sarem.org.ar RODENTS OF THE SUBFAMILY CAVIINAE (HYSTRICOGNATHI, CAVIIDAE) AS HOSTS FOR HARD TICKS (ACARI: IXODIDAE) Alberto A. Guglielmone and Santiago Nava Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Rafaela and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, CC 22, CP 2300 Rafaela, Santa Fe, Argentina [Correspondence: Santiago Nava <[email protected]>]. ABSTRACT: There are only 33 records of rodents of the subfamily Caviinae Fischer de Waldheim, 1817 (Hystricognathi: Caviidae) infested by hard ticks in South America, where the subfamily is established. Caviinae is formed by three genera: Cavia Pallas, 1766, Galea Meyen, 1833 and Microcavia Gervais and Ameghino, 1880. Records of Amblyomma pictum Neumann, 1906, A. dissimile Koch, 1844 and A. pseudoparvum Guglielmone, Keirans and Mangold, 1990 are considered doubtful. Bona fide records are all for localities south of the Amazonian basin in Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Brazil.
    [Show full text]