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Functional Indices and Postnatal Ontogeny of Long Bones of the Forelimb in the Sigmodontine Rodents (Rodentia: Cricetidae)

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Abstract

The adaptations for a particular locomotor type (e.g., fossorial or saltatorial) could affect limb bone morphology throughout ontogeny. We explore how the measurements of the forelimbs and functional indices change along the postnatal ontogeny of 92 specimens of sigmodontines belonging to four genera (Akodon, Eligmodontia, Oligoryzomys, and Oxymycterus) with different locomotor types (ambulatory, quadrupedal-saltatorial, scansorial, and semifossorial). We examined individuals of different age categories: juveniles, young adults, and adults. Eleven linear measurements of long bones (humerus, radius, and ulna) corresponding to functional diameters and lengths were taken and analyzed through simple regressions (RMA) using geometric mean transformations. Six morphofunctional indices were then calculated and analyzed through multivariate analysis (MANOVA). The allometric patterns and morphofunctional indices show that the forelimb tends to be elongated and slender in the ambulatory, scansorial, and quadrupedal-saltatorial species, and short and thicker in the semifossorial species. Morphofunctional indices do not separate our sample concerning age categories, possibly indicating that the juveniles of different rodent species are born with similar morphology to the adults in terms of locomotion.

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Acknowledgements

We especially thank Guillermo Cassini, Néstor Toledo, and Sergio Vizcaíno for inviting us to participate in this tribute to L.B. Radinsky within the framework of the Symposium: “El paradigma de correlación forma-función en mastozoología: un tributo a Leonard Radinsky (1937–1985),” which took place during the XXXI Jornadas Argentinas de Mastozoología, in La Rioja, Argentina. 25 October, 2018. We also thank to Ulyses Pardiñas (Colección de Mamíferos del Centro Nacional Patagónico), Pablo Teta (Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales), Ricardo Ojeda (Colección de vertebrados del Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas), Diego Verzi (Museo de La Plata), and P. Jayat for allowing access to the study material. P. Jayat and D. Podestá provided photographs. Thank also to Juan M. Ferro for helped us to improvements to English grammar of the manuscript considerably. Also, thanks to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments that improved the quality of this work.

Funding

LVC was funded by PICT 2015–2864 and VA by PICT 2016–2772, AGENCIA PIP 389.

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  1. Laboratorio de Genética Evolutiva, UNaM-CONICET, Instituto de Biología Subtropical (IBS)-nodo Posadas, Félix de Azara 1552, CPA, N3300LQF, Posadas, Argentina

    Luz Valeria Carrizo

  2. Unidad Ejecutora Lillo-CONICET, Instituto de Herpetología-Fundación Miguel Lillo, Miguel Lillo 251, 4000, Tucumán, Argentina

    María José Tulli

  3. Cátedra de Biología General, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, UNT, Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical (IBN), UNT-CONICET, Horco Molle S/N, 4107, Yerba Buena, Tucumán, Argentina

    Virginia Abdala

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  1. Luz Valeria Carrizo
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  2. María José Tulli
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Correspondence to Luz Valeria Carrizo or María José Tulli.

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Carrizo, L.V., Tulli, M.J. & Abdala, V. Functional Indices and Postnatal Ontogeny of Long Bones of the Forelimb in the Sigmodontine Rodents (Rodentia: Cricetidae). J Mammal Evol 28, 75–85 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-020-09512-x

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