Morphological diversity in tenrecs (Afrosoricida, Tenrecidae): comparing tenrec skull diversity to their closest relatives
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Author and article information
Abstract
It is important to quantify patterns of morphological diversity to enhance our understanding of variation in ecological and evolutionary traits. Here, we present a quantitative analysis of morphological diversity in a family of small mammals, the tenrecs (Afrosoricida, Tenrecidae). Tenrecs are often cited as an example of an exceptionally morphologically diverse group. However, this assumption has not been tested quantitatively. We use geometric morphometric analyses of skull shape to test whether tenrecs are more morphologically diverse than their closest relatives, the golden moles (Afrosoricida, Chrysochloridae). Tenrecs occupy a wider range of ecological niches than golden moles so we predict that they will be more morphologically diverse. Contrary to our expectations, we find that tenrec skulls are only more morphologically diverse than golden moles when measured in lateral view. Furthermore, similarities among the species-rich Microgale tenrec genus appear to mask higher morphological diversity in the rest of the family. These results reveal new insights into the morphological diversity of tenrecs and highlight the importance of using quantitative methods to test qualitative assumptions about patterns of morphological diversity.
Cite this as
2015. Morphological diversity in tenrecs (Afrosoricida, Tenrecidae): comparing tenrec skull diversity to their closest relatives. PeerJ PrePrints 3:e811v2 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.811v2note This preprint is not peer-reviewed. You may wish to reference the subsequent peer-reviewed version of this article.
Author comment
This is an updated version to reflect comments from reviews. Minor changes have been made throughout.
Sections
Supplemental Information
Additional Information
Competing Interests
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
Author Contributions
Sive Finlay conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Natalie Cooper conceived and designed the experiments, wrote the paper, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Data Deposition
The following information was supplied regarding the deposition of related data:
1) "Insectivore" mammal skulls, dorsal view. http: //dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.705863.
2) "Insectivore" mammal skulls, lateral view. http: //dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.715890.
3) "Insectivore" mammal skulls, ventral view. http: //dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.715841.
Funding
This work was funded by an Irish Research Council EMBARK Initiative Postgraduate Scholarship (SF) and a European Commission CORDIS Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) Marie Curie CIG grant (proposal number: 321696; NC). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
