ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2019
Morphological evolution in therocephalians breaks the hypercarnivore ratchet.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Adaptive landscapes unveil the complex evolutionary path from sprawling to upright forelimb function and posture in mammals.PLoS biology · 2025Article
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- Mosaic evolution underlies feliform morphological disparity.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Conical and sabertoothed cats as an exception to craniofacial evolutionary allometry.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Diving into a dead-end: asymmetric evolution of diving drives diversity and disparity shifts in waterbirds.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- A Carboniferous synapsid with caniniform teeth and a reappraisal of mandibular size-shape heterodonty in the origin of mammals.Royal Society open science · 2021Article
- Multiple paths to morphological diversification during the origin of amniotes.Nature ecology & evolution · 2021Article
- The geographical diversification in varanid lizards: the role of mainland versus island in driving species evolution.Current zoology · 2020Article
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Abstract
Large carnivorous mammals have been suggested to show a ratchet-like mode of morphological evolution. A limited number of specializations for hypercarnivory evolve repeatedly in multiple clades, with those lineages evolving such specialities being unable to retreat back along their evolutionary trajectory or jump between adaptive peaks. While it has been hypothesized that such mechanisms should have applied to the evolution of other terrestrial carnivores, the non-mammalian synapsid clade Therocephalia appears to defy this expectation. The earliest, basalmost members of this clade are large macropredators, and it is later that small carnivores appear, seemingly evolving from top-predator ancestors. In order to test this reading of therocephalian evolution, variation in rates of body size evolution were tested for and incorporated into an ancestral reconstruction. Similar studies were made of the evolution of discrete characters related to carnivory. All analyses indicate the ancestral therocephalian was a large macro-predator, with serrated teeth, elongated canines and robust lower jaws. Small sizes apparently evolve later. It is therefore suggested that the hypercarnivore ratchet is a feature of mammalian evolution.
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