Testing the occurrence of convergence in the craniomandibular shape evolution of living carnivorans.

ABSTRACT: Convergence consists in the independent evolution of similar traits in distantly related species. The mammalian craniomandibular complex constitutes an ideal biological structure to investigate ecomorphological dynamics and the carnivorans, due to their phenotypic variability and ecological flexibility, offer an interesting case study to explore the occurrence of convergent evolution. Here, we applied multiple pattern-based metrics to test the occurrence of convergence in the craniomandibular shape of extant carnivorans. To this aim, we tested for convergence in many dietary groups and analyzed several cases of carnivoran convergence concerning either ecologically equivalent species or ecologically similar species of different body sizes described in the literature. Our results validate th

SUBMITTER: Tamagnini D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8359831 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature