| divergent behavior amid convergent evolution: a case of four desert rodents learning to respond to known and novel vipers. | desert communities world-wide are used as natural laboratories for the study of convergent evolution, yet inferences drawn from such studies are necessarily indirect. here, we brought desert organisms together (rodents and vipers) from two deserts (mojave and negev). both predators and prey in the mojave have adaptations that give them competitive advantage compared to their middle-eastern counterparts. heteromyid rodents of the mojave, kangaroo rats and pocket mice, have fur-lined cheek pouches ... | 2018 | 30125293 |
| divergent genetic mechanism leads to spiny hair in rodents. | spines, or modified hairs, have evolved multiple times in mammals, particularly in rodents. in this study, we investigated the evolution of spines in six rodent families. we first measured and compared the morphology and physical properties of hairs between paired spiny and non-spiny sister lineages. we found two distinct hair morphologies had evolved repeatedly in spiny rodents: hairs with a grooved cross-section and a second near cylindrical form. compared to the ancestral elliptical-shaped ha ... | 2018 | 30118524 |
| functional capacity of kangaroo rat hindlimbs: adaptations for locomotor performance. | many cursorial and large hopping species are extremely efficient locomotors with various morphological adaptations believed to reduce mechanical demand and improve movement efficiency, including elongated distal limb segments. however, despite having elongated limbs, small hoppers such as desert kangaroo rats (dipodomys deserti) are less efficient locomotors than their larger counterparts, which may be in part due to avoiding predators through explosive jumping movements. despite potentially con ... | 2018 | 29997260 |