Basicranial Morphology and Relationships of Antillean Heptaxodontidae (Rodentia, Ctenohystrica, Caviomorpha)

MacPhee, R. D. E.

doi:10.1206/0003-0090-363.1.1

Cited by 32 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(67 reference statements)

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“…the presence of this shelf (anular bridge) has nothing to do with the occurrence of an entotympanic, nor does it represent yet another novel element (a separately ossified "anulus membrane"). its form and width are simply a function of the amount of remodeling activity occurring in the subtympanic recess, as has been documented for various primates and rodents in which a similar feature occurs (macPhee and cartmill, 1986;macPhee, 2011). in summary, the symmetrical, parasagittal grooves on the bullar floors of Cochilius volvens Amnh-VP 29651 can be plausibly interpreted as marking the position of an ectotympano-entotympanic suture in this taxon.…”

Section: Entotympanic Presence In Other Notoungulatesmentioning

confidence: 60%

“…(5) Although it cannot be argued that otic characters have a privileged status when it comes to defining monophyletic groups, experience with various mammalian clades teaches that, more often than not, they can be very helpful in this regard (macPhee, 2011). Thus, Billet and de muizon (2013) have recently shown that a suite of apparently derived features of notoungulata (bean-shaped promontorium, a laterally located tensor tympani fossa, and merged stapedial fossa and postpromontorial tympanic sinus) can be used to conclusively attribute isolated petrosals whose affinities were previously uncertain.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Serrialis Bone, Interparietals, “X” Elements, Entotympanics, and the Composition of the Notoungulate Caudal Cranium

MacPhee

2014

Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History

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Section: Entotympanic Presence In Other Notoungulatesmentioning

confidence: 60%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Serrialis Bone, Interparietals, “X” Elements, Entotympanics, and the Composition of the Notoungulate Caudal Cranium

MacPhee

2014

Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History

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“…subtype 2 of multiserial HSBs [30]). Because of their 'multi-lamellar' cheek tooth organization, the systematics of these two Caribbean taxa (as well as that of Quemisia from Hispaniola, Clidomys and Xaymaca from Jamaica, and Tainotherium from Puerto Rico, all from Pleistocene-Holocene contexts [53,[61][62][63][64]) has long been the subject of controversy (chinchilloids versus cavioids versus octodontoids [16]). Based on characters of the ear region anatomy, MacPhee [16] underlined that Amblyrhiza shares several derived features with chinchilloids (close to chinchillids and dinomyids), whereas Elasmodontomys displays a primitive basicranial morphology, which does not allow for a precise supra-familial assignment (?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Oligocene chinchilloid caviomorphs from Puerto Rico and the initial rodent colonization of the West Indies

et al. 2020

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By their past and present diversity, rodents are among the richest components of Caribbean land mammals. Many of these became extinct recently. Causes of their extirpation, their phylogenetic affinities, the timing of their arrival in the West Indies and their biogeographic history are all ongoing debated issues. Here, we report the discovery of dental remains from Lower Oligocene deposits ( ca 29.5 Ma) of Puerto Rico. Their morphology attests to the presence of two distinct species of chinchilloid caviomorphs, closely related to dinomyids in a phylogenetic analysis, and thus of undisputable South American origin. These fossils represent the earliest Caribbean rodents known thus far. They could extend back to 30 Ma the lineages of some recently extinct Caribbean giant rodents ( Elasmodontomys and Amblyrhiza ), which are also retrieved here as chinchilloids. This new find has substantial biogeographic implications because it demonstrates an early dispersal of land mammals from South America to the West Indies, perhaps via the emergence of the Aves Ridge that occurred ca 35–33 Ma (GAARlandia hypothesis). Considering both this new palaeontological evidence and recent molecular divergence estimates, the natural colonization of the West Indies by rodents probably occurred through multiple and time-staggered dispersal events (chinchilloids, then echimyid octodontoids (spiny rats/hutias), caviids and lastly oryzomyin muroids (rice rats)).

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“…Most island systems have experienced high levels of humancaused biodiversity loss (6), and many unusual insular taxa are now extinct and represented only by incomplete subfossil remains. In the absence of molecular analyses, such taxa can remain evolutionarily enigmatic, often with multiple competing noncongruent phylogenetic hypotheses derived from restricted morphological datasets (10,11). Improved molecular sampling of extinct taxa is necessary to resolve these conflicts and reconstruct the evolution of insular biotas through time, and distinguish between morphologies representing adaptive responses to island environments versus those representing "primitive" traits lost from continental representatives of diversifying clades.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient DNA of the extinct Jamaican monkey Xenothrix reveals extreme insular change within a morphologically conservative radiation

Woods

Turvey

Brace

et al. 2018

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The insular Caribbean until recently contained a diverse mammal fauna including four endemic platyrrhine primate species, all of which died out during the Holocene. Previous morphological studies have attempted to establish how these primates are related to fossil and extant platyrrhines, whether they represent ancient or recent colonists, and whether they constitute a monophyletic group. These efforts have generated multiple conflicting hypotheses, from close sister-taxon relationships with several different extant platyrrhines to derivation from a stem platyrrhine lineage outside the extant Neotropical radiation. This diversity of opinion reflects the fact that Caribbean primates were morphologically extremely unusual, displaying numerous autapomorphies and apparently derived conditions present across different platyrrhine clades. Here we report ancient DNA data for an extinct Caribbean primate: a limited-coverage entire mitochondrial genome and seven regions of nuclear genome for the most morphologically derived taxon, the Jamaican monkey Xenothrix mcgregori. We demonstrate that Xenothrix is part of the existing platyrrhine radiation rather than a late-surviving stem platyrrhine, despite its unusual adaptations, and falls within the species-rich but morphologically conservative titi monkey clade (Callicebinae) as sister to the newly recognized genus Cheracebus. These results are not congruent with previous morphology-based hypotheses and suggest that even morphologically conservative lineages can exhibit phenetic plasticity in novel environments like those found on islands. Xenothrix and Cheracebus diverged ca. 11 Ma, but primates have been present in the Caribbean since 17.5-18.5 Ma, indicating that Caribbean primate diversity was generated by multiple over-water colonizations.biogeography | Callicebus | extinct mammal | island evolution | phylogeny

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Basicranial Morphology and Relationships of Antillean Heptaxodontidae (Rodentia, Ctenohystrica, Caviomorpha)

Cited by 32 publications

References 48 publications

The Serrialis Bone, Interparietals, “X” Elements, Entotympanics, and the Composition of the Notoungulate Caudal Cranium

The Serrialis Bone, Interparietals, “X” Elements, Entotympanics, and the Composition of the Notoungulate Caudal Cranium

Early Oligocene chinchilloid caviomorphs from Puerto Rico and the initial rodent colonization of the West Indies

Ancient DNA of the extinct Jamaican monkey Xenothrix reveals extreme insular change within a morphologically conservative radiation

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