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Convergent evolution of an extreme dietary specialisation, the olfactory system of worm-eating rodents
Martinez, Q Lebrun, R Achmadi, AS Esselstyn, JA Evans, AR Heaney, LR Portela Miguez, R Rowe, KC Fabre, P-H
Martinez, Q
Lebrun, R
Achmadi, AS
Esselstyn, JA
Evans, AR
Heaney, LR
Portela Miguez, R
Rowe, KC
Fabre, P-H
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2018-12-13
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2019-05-09
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Rodents
Turbinal bones
Olfaction
Murinae
Turbinal bones
Olfaction
Murinae
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Abstract
Turbinal bones are key components of the mammalian rostrum that contribute to three critical functions: (1) homeothermy, (2) water conservation and (3) olfaction. With over 700 extant species, murine rodents (Murinae) are the most species-rich mammalian subfamily, with most of that diversity residing in the Indo-Australian Archipelago. Their evolutionary history includes several cases of putative, but untested ecomorphological convergence, especially with traits related to diet. Among the most spectacular rodent ecomorphs are the vermivores which independently evolved in several island systems. We used 3D CT-scans (N = 87) of murine turbinal bones to quantify olfactory capacities as well as heat or water conservation adaptations. We obtained similar results from an existing 2D complexity method and two new 3D methodologies that quantify bone complexity. Using comparative phylogenetic methods, we identified a significant convergent signal in the rostral morphology within the highly specialised vermivores. Vermivorous species have significantly larger and more complex olfactory turbinals than do carnivores and omnivores. Increased olfactory capacities may be a major adaptive feature facilitating rats’ capacity to prey on elusive earthworms. The narrow snout that characterises vermivores exhibits significantly reduced respiratory turbinals, which may reduce their heat and water conservation capacities.
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Martinez, Q., Lebrun, R., Achmadi, A.S., Esselstyn, J.A., Evans, A.R., Heaney, L.R., Portela Miguez, R., Rowe, K.C., Fabre, P. (2018). Convergent evolution of an extreme dietary specialisation, the olfactory system of worm-eating rodents. Scientific Reports, 8:17806. DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-35827-0
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© The Author(s) 2018. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The attached file is the published version of the article.
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2045-2322
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openAccess