ArticleEvolution letters2022
Unique bone microanatomy reveals ancestry of subterranean specializations in mammals.
Article in Evolution letters, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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4 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bone microstructure supports a Mesozoic origin for a semiaquatic burrowing lifestyle in monotremes (Mammalia).Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Size And Locomotor Ecology Have Differing Effects on the External and Internal Morphologies of Squirrel (Rodentia: Sciuridae) Limb Bones.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- Growth and life history of freshwater chelydrid turtles (Testudines: Cryptodira): A bone histological approach.Journal of anatomyArticle
- Palaeohistology and life history of the early Palaeocene taeniodont Conoryctes comma (Mammalia: Eutheria).Journal of anatomyArticle
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Acquiring a subterranean lifestyle entails a substantial shift for many aspects of terrestrial vertebrates' biology. Although this lifestyle is associated with multiple instances of convergent evolution, the relative success of some subterranean lineages largely remains unexplained. Here, we focus on the mammalian transitions to life underground, quantifying bone microanatomy through high-resolution X-ray tomography. The true moles stand out in this dataset. Examination of this family's bone histology reveals that the highly fossorial moles acquired a unique phenotype involving large amounts of compacted coarse cancellous bone. This phenotype exceeds the adaptive optimum seemingly shared by several other subterranean mammals and can be traced back to some of the first known members of the family. This remarkable microanatomy was acquired early in the history of the group and evolved faster than the gross morphology innovations of true moles' forelimb. This echoes the pattern described for other lifestyle transitions, such as the acquisition of bone mass specializations in secondarily aquatic tetrapods. Highly plastic traits-such as those pertaining to bone structure-are hence involved in the early stages of different types of lifestyle transitions.
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