Evolution of the sabertooth mandible: A deadly ecomorphological specialization

@article{Piras2018EvolutionOT,
  title={Evolution of the sabertooth mandible: A deadly ecomorphological specialization},
  author={Paolo Piras and Daniele Silvestro and Francesco Carotenuto and Silvia Castiglione and Anastassios Kotsakis and Leonardo Maiorino and Marina Melchionna and Alessandro Mondanaro and Gabriele Sansalone and Carmela Serio and Vittoria Vero and Pasquale Raia},
  journal={Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology},
  year={2018},
  volume={496},
  pages={166-174}
}
  • P. PirasD. Silvestro P. Raia
  • Published 1 May 2018
  • Geography, Environmental Science
  • Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
View via Publisher
20 Citations
Background Citations
6
Methods Citations
1
Results Citations
1

20 Citations

Morphological convergence obscures functional diversity in sabre-toothed carnivores

A suite of biomechanical simulations are used to analyse key functional parameters (mandibular gape angle, bending strength, bite force) to compare the functional performance of different groups and to quantify evolutionary rates across sabre-tooth vertebrates.

How Many Sabertooths? Reevaluating the Number of Carnivoran Sabertooth Lineages with Total-Evidence Bayesian Techniques and a Novel Origin of the Miocene Nimravidae

Some of the most extreme sabertooth adaptations are found within the carnivoran subfamily Barbourofelina, the largest group of carnivorous mammals in the world.

Quantitative Analyses of Feliform Humeri Reveal the Existence of a Very Large Cat in North America During the Miocene

Felids are keystone predators in modern ecosystems and likely played a similar role in shaping ecosystems through the Cenozoic. Unfortunately, understanding the paleoecological impact of felids has…

Evolutionary trends of body size and hypsodonty in notoungulates and their probable drivers

Phenotypic integration in feliform carnivores: Covariation patterns and disparity in hypercarnivores versus generalists

This work compared the shape of the skull, mandible, humerus, and femur of species in relation to their feeding strategies and prey preference and highlighted different degrees of morphological integration in the Feliformia depending on the functional implication of the anatomical structure.

Cranial disparity versus diversity in sabertoothed felids: a case of late morphospace saturation

The first diversity (number of taxa) versus disparity (explored morphospace) comparison of sabertoothed felids performed on craniomandibular and dental characters indicates that in machairodont felids real morphospace stabilization is never achieved until the Pleistocene.

Iterative evolution of large-bodied hypercarnivory in canids benefits species but not clades

The effect of body size and dietary specialization on extinction regimes in North American Canidae is analysed and it is found that hypercarnivory, which evolved independently multiple times, does not increase species-level extinction but is associated with extinctions of clades.

Iliac auricular surface morphofunctional study in felidae.

Selection and Constraints in the Ecomorphological Adaptive Evolution of the Skull of Living Canidae (Carnivora, Mammalia)

The results obtained here show that microevolutionary constraints may have played a role in shaping macroevolutionARY patterns of morphological evolution, and it is confirmed that the evolution of cranial morphology was largely adaptive and molded by changes in diet composition.

Eomakhaira molossus, A New Saber-Toothed Sparassodont (Metatheria: Thylacosmilinae) from the Early Oligocene (?Tinguirirican) Cachapoal Locality, Andean Main Range, Chile

The occurrence of Eomakhaira in strata of early Oligocene age from the Chilean Andes demonstrates that the stratigraphic range of thylacosmilines spanned almost 30 million years, far surpassing those of saber-toothed placental lineages.

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 62 REFERENCES

Long in the tooth: evolution of sabertooth cat cranial shape

Within each sabertooth lineage, skull shape is significantly correlated with canine length, suggesting that gape-related demands drove the evolution of saberteeth skull morphology.

Evolution of Skull and Mandible Shape in Cats (Carnivora: Felidae)

It is shown that the shape of the skull and mandible in derived sabrecats occupy entirely different positions within overall morphospace from feline cats, and that the evolution of skull andMandible shape has followed very different paths in the two subgroups.

Canine Evolution in Sabretoothed Carnivores: Natural Selection or Sexual Selection?

Scaling relationships indicate the probable importance of sexual selection in the evolution of the hypertrophied sabretooth anterior dentition.

Déjà vu: the evolution of feeding morphologies in the Carnivora

A survey of the fossil record indicates that large hypercarnivores evolve frequently, often in response to ecological opportunity afforded by the decline or extinction of previously dominant hyperc Carnivorous taxa.

Ecological Adaptations of Mandibular Form in Fissiped Carnivora

It is suggested that carnivoran species can be usefully grouped into functional ‘guilds’ in eco-morphological studies irrespective of their phylogenetic history, and mandibular allometric trajectories are distinct among families and ecological categories.

Evolutionary convergence of primitive sabertooth craniomandibular morphology: the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) and Paramachairodus ogygia compared

Comparison of craniomandibular morphology of the extant clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa and Paramachairodus reveals numerous similarities and subsequent divergence from other extant great cats.

Sabertooth characters in the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa Griffiths 1821)

The skull morphology of the clouded leopard sets it apart from other extant felids, and in a number of respects it approaches the morphology of primitive sabertooths, which raises doubts about the characters hitherto considered as distinguishing saberoothed from nonsabertoothed predators.

Biting through constraints: cranial morphology, disparity and convergence across living and fossil carnivorous mammals

Contrary to previous studies, metatherian carnivores consistently exhibited disparity which exceeded that of the much more speciose eutherian carnivore radiations, refuting the hypothesis that developmental constraints have limited the morphological evolution of the marsupial cranium.

Phylogenetic convergence and multiple shell shape optima for gliding scallops (Bivalvia: Pectinidae)

The hypothesis that gliding scallops display shell shape convergence is tested using a combination of geometric morphometrics and phylogenetic comparative methods that evaluate patterns of multivariate trait evolution, revealing that the gliding species display less morphological disparity and significant evolutionary convergence in morphospace, relative to expectations under a neutral model of Brownian motion for evolutionary phenotypic change.

Evolution and systematics of the feliform Carnivora

...