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The Functional and Phylogenetic Implications of the Myology of the Lumbar Region, Tail, and Hind Limbs of the Lesser Grison (Galictis cuja)

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Abstract

Mustelids are a morphofunctionally diversified group. However, there are no descriptions of the postcranial musculature of South American mustelid species except for some comments from the 19th century. Here, we present the first description of the myology of the hind limbs, and lumbar, sacral, and caudal regions of the lesser grison (Galictis cuja), a short-legged South American mustelid, including muscle maps and weight data. We interpret the function and the evolution of several muscular features within a comparative framework and through the optimization of these traits onto a phylogeny. The configuration of the axial musculature (e.g., m. quadratus lumborum with short bundles, heavy iliocostalis, and forward originated sacrocaudalis dorsalis) and the presence of strong ankle musculature are features shared with mustelines and, to a lesser degree, with other musteloids. These could be related to a high mobility of the axial skeleton and strong control of the movement of the ankle joint, in relation to the acquisition of epigean bounding gaits, a crouched locomotion, and enhanced maneuverability inside burrows. We recorded many phylogenetically significant traits, shared with other arctoids (e.g., subdivision of m. gluteus profundus and semimembranosus, presence of a single belly for m. sartorius, and absence of articularis coxae) or exclusively musteloids (e.g., frequent fusion between m. piriformis and gluteus medius). Some features (e.g., restricted origin of the caudal belly of the m. semitendinosus, absence of gluteofemoralis, and unusually complex fibularis brevis) seem to be derived conditions acquired in some mustelid clades. Our results sustain the value of myological data for functional and phylogenetic studies.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to Francisco Prevosti for providing materials, ideas, and useful advice. We would like to thank David Flores and Valentina Segura (MACN) for granting access to material and installations under their care for many months, and to the staff of the Estación Hidrobiológica de Puerto Quequén (MACN) for granting access to installations under their care. We thank Sergio Bogan (CFA-Ma) and the Universidad Maimónides for granting access to additional material and installations under their care. We thank Itatí Olivares and Diego Verzi (MLP) for granting access to material under their care. We thank Sergio Lucero, Santiago Nenda, Yolanda Davies, Jésica Unger, Maximiliano Álvarez, and Mariano Ramírez for their recommendations and dedicated collaboration. We are very grateful to the Editor-in-Chief John Wible and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments that greatly improved this work. We also thank Daria Wingreen-Mason, Anna Perepelova, Analía Forasiepi, César García-Esponda, Adriana Candela, Sergio Monterroso, Cecilia Morgan, Carsten Wolf, Susanne Whitaker, Eric Yensen, Daniel Martinaeu, Steven Presley, Thomas Burkholder, Danny Walker, Thorvald Holmes, the Biodiversity Heritage Library, the Universitätsbibliothek Gießen, and the Flower-Sprecher Veterinary Library of the Cornell University, and especially to Rebecca Fisher and Emily Julik, for their invaluable help in bibliographic research.

Author contributions

M.D.E.: Concept and design. M.D.E., F.B., S.E. and G.F.T.: data collection and analysis. M.D.E., A.A. and M.M.M.: Draft of manuscript. M.D.E., A.A., F.B. and S.E.: Design of figures and tables. F.B. and S.E.: Critical review and approval of manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia, Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, C1405DJR, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Marcos D. Ercoli, Alicia Álvarez & Guillermo F. Turazzini

  2. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Ciudad Universitaria, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Sebastián Echarri & Felipe Busker

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo, San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina

    Miriam M. Morales

  4. CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Marcos D. Ercoli

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  1. Marcos D. Ercoli
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  2. Sebastián Echarri
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  3. Felipe Busker
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  4. Alicia Álvarez
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  5. Miriam M. Morales
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Correspondence to Marcos D. Ercoli.

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Figure S11

Muscular characters definitions and optimization onto a combined phylogeny (after Flynn et al. 2005; Koepfli et al. 2007, 2008). Plain colors represent unambiguous states, dashed bi- or three colored lines indicate ambiguous states, and dashed gray line indicates unknown or non-applicable state (PDF 1.37 MB)

Table S1

Dry mass in grams (gr) of each muscle weighed in the three specimens of Galictis cuja analyzed (left and right limbs). “-” indicates that the corresponding muscle was weighed as separate parts or with other muscles, no marks indicates absence of the feature, and “?” indicates missing data (PDF 161 KB)

Table S2

Intraspecific variation observed among the three specimens of Galictis cuja analyzed (left and right limbs). “x” indicates side and specimen where the feature described is present, no marks indicates absence of the feature, and “?” indicates missing data (PDF 115 KB)

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Ercoli, M.D., Echarri, S., Busker, F. et al. The Functional and Phylogenetic Implications of the Myology of the Lumbar Region, Tail, and Hind Limbs of the Lesser Grison (Galictis cuja). J Mammal Evol 20, 309–336 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-012-9219-9

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