Phylogeny, function and ecology in the deep evolutionary history of the mammalian forelimb.

ABSTRACT: Mammals are the only living members of the larger clade Synapsida, which has a fossil record spanning 320 Ma. Despite the fact that much of the ecological diversity of mammals has been considered in the light of limb morphology, the ecological comparability of mammals to their fossil forerunners has not been critically assessed. Because of the wide use of limb morphology in testing ecomorphological hypothesis about extinct tetrapods, we sought: (i) to estimate when in synapsid history, modern mammals become analogues for predicting fossil ecologies; (ii) to document examples of ecomorphological convergence; and (iii) to compare the functional solutions of distinct synapsid radiations. We quantitatively compared the forelimb shapes of the multiple fossil synapsid radiations to a broad sampl

SUBMITTER: Lungmus JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8059613 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature