Uluburun shipwreck stowaway house mouse: molar shape analysis and indirect clues about the vessel's last journey

Cucchi, Thomas

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.06.016

Cited by 50 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 40 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…We focused on this molar because of its high taxonomic value within murine rodents [47]. Within M. musculus, a strong imprint of historical factors is well documented on the first lower molar shape, which is used as a valuable proxy for identifying subspecies [18] and even for tracing the geographical origin within a subspecies [17,18,24]. As covariation of the occluding lower and upper molars is under functional constraints [48], a phylogenetic signal may also be expected on the upper molar.…”

Section: Discussion (A) Methodological Originality: Tooth Evolution Imentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Phylogeny and adaptation shape the teeth of insular mice

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

By accompanying human travels since prehistorical times, the house mouse dispersed widely throughout the world, and colonized many islands. The origin of the travellers determined the phylogenetic source of the insular mice, which encountered diverse ecological and environmental conditions on the various islands. Insular mice are thus an exceptional model to disentangle the relative role of phylogeny, ecology and climate in evolution. Molar shape is known to vary according to phylogeny and to respond to adaptation. Using for the first time a three-dimensional geometric morphometric approach, compared with a classical two-dimensional quantification, the relative effects of size variation, phylogeny, climate and ecology were investigated on molar shape diversity across a variety of islands. Phylogeny emerged as the factor of prime importance in shaping the molar. Changes in competition level, mostly driven by the presence or absence of the wood mouse on the different islands, appeared as the second most important effect. Climate and size differences accounted for slight shape variation. This evidences a balanced role of random differentiation related to history of colonization, and of adaptation possibly related to resource exploitation.

show abstract

Section: Discussion (A) Methodological Originality: Tooth Evolution Imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Molar teeth have been shown to be influenced by phylogenetic history [17,18] as well as environmental conditions [19,20]. Development may also constrain their evolution [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogeny and adaptation shape the teeth of insular mice

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This delay in the westward diffusion is thought to be related to both the large increase in maritime trade and the stability of the commensal niche in western Europe that occurred at this period [10]. Indeed, stowaway transport of the house mouse related to the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean trade has been directly documented by zooarchaeological data [15]. However, these studies mostly involved fossil remains as well as extant samples from the eastern and the northern Mediterranean regions, while few data were available concerning the African shore.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic differentiation of the house mouse around the Mediterranean basin: matrilineal footprints of early and late colonization

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The molecular signatures of the recent expansion of the western house mouse, Mus musculus domesticus, around the Mediterranean basin are investigated through the study of mitochondrial D-loop polymorphism on a 1313 individual dataset. When reducing the complexity of the matrilineal network to a series of haplogroups (HGs), our main results indicate that: (i) several HGs are recognized which seem to have almost simultaneously diverged from each other, confirming a recent expansion for the whole subspecies; (ii) some HGs are geographically delimited while others are widespread, indicative of multiple introductions or secondary exchanges; (iii) mice from the western and the eastern coasts of Africa harbour largely different sets of HGs; and (iv) HGs from the two shores of the Mediterranean are more similar in the west than in the east. This pattern is in keeping with the two-step westward expansion proposed by zooarchaeological data, an early one coincident with the Neolithic progression and limited to the eastern Mediterranean and a later one, particularly evident in the western Mediterranean, related to the generalization of maritime trade during the first millennium BC and onwards. The dispersal of mice along with humans, which continues until today, has for instance left complex footprints on the long ago colonized Cyprus or more simple ones on the much more recently populated Canary Islands.

show abstract

“…Geometric morphometrics was used to quantify the size and shape of first upper (M1) and lower (m1) molars, an approach that has proven efficient to show fine‐scale temporal and geographical variation in such murine rodents (e.g. Michaux, Chevret & Renaud, ; Michaux et al ., ; Renaud & Michaux, ; Cucchi, ; Renaud, Pantalacci & Auffray , ; Valenzuela‐Lamas et al ., ). Based on this quantitative method, we addressed the following issues: The variation of Mus remains at EH2 was compared with a reference data set including modern and fossil representatives of the genus Mus in the Moroccan area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Musin Morocco: a Quaternary sequence of intraspecific evolution

Stoetzel

Denys

Michaux

et al. 2013

Biol J Linn Soc Lond

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

North Africa is an intricate biogeographical region at the crossroads of immigration waves from tropical Africa and Asia. Species confined between various barriers (Atlas Mountains, arid environments such as the Sahara in the south, water masses such as the Mediterranean Sea in the north, and the Atlantic Ocean in the west) were generally forced to adapt locally to environmental changes instead of tracking their habitat by shifting their distribution area. The present study aims at providing first insight into the evolution of the genus Mus, and more specifically of the western Mediterranean species Mus spretus in this area. The study relies on the abundant Late Pleistocene and Middle Holocene fossil assemblage from the El Harhoura 2 cave (Rabat‐Témara, Morocco). This exceptional record was studied using geometric morphometrics applied to first upper and lower molars, constituting the most informative and best preserved fossil remains for such small rodents. Two main issues were addressed. (1) Geometric morphometrics was used to clarify taxonomic status and phylogenetic relationships among fossil and modern species in this area. Morphometric analysis revealed good discrimination of most modern and fossil species but failed to document intermediate forms tracing anagenetic evolution. Not mutually exclusive, the occurrence of complex processes of morphological evolution in this genus such as parallel evolution and the action of stabilizing selection may make it difficult to translate patterns of morphological evolution into phylogenetic conclusions. (2) The record was shown to document a sequence of intraspecific evolution of M. spretus. The morphology of the molars through the fossil record of El Harhoura 2 was surprisingly stable despite extensive modern variation. The limited temporal variation largely failed to correlate to palaeoenvironmental proxies. The mouse fossil record at El Harhoura 2 thus presents an intriguing case of morphological stasis despite extensive environmental changes. This long‐term stability may have been recently perturbed by anthropogenic factors including landscape changes and introduction of various competitors and predators, leading to a size reduction. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013, 109, 599–621.

show abstract

Uluburun shipwreck stowaway house mouse: molar shape analysis and indirect clues about the vessel's last journey

Cited by 50 publications

References 40 publications

Phylogeny and adaptation shape the teeth of insular mice

Phylogeny and adaptation shape the teeth of insular mice

Genetic differentiation of the house mouse around the Mediterranean basin: matrilineal footprints of early and late colonization

Musin Morocco: a Quaternary sequence of intraspecific evolution

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About