The ecomorphology of southern African rodent incisors: Potential applications to the hominin fossil record.

ABSTRACT: The taxonomic identification of mammalian fauna within fossil assemblages is a well-established component of paleoenvironmental reconstructions. However, many fragmentary specimens recovered from fossil sites are often disregarded as they can be difficult to identify with the precision required for taxonomic methods. For this reason, the large numbers of isolated rodent incisors that are often recovered from hominin fossil bearing sites are generally regarded as offering little interpretive value. Ecomorphological analysis, often referred to as a "taxon-free" method, can potentially circumvent this problem by focusing on the adaptive, rather than the taxonomic significance of rodent incisor morphology. Here, we determine if the morphology of the upper incisors of modern southern African ro

SUBMITTER: Paine OCC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6382097 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature