Phylogeny and Speciation of Felids | Request PDF ArticlePhylogeny and Speciation of Felids July 2005 Cladistics 16(2):232 - 253 DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-0031.2000.tb00354.x Authors: Michelle Y. Mattern Michelle Y. Mattern This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet. Deborah A. Mclennan University of Toronto Request full-text PDFTo read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors. Request full-text Download citation Copy link Link copied Request full-text Download citation Copy link Link copied To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors. Citations (141) References (140) Abstract The phylogeny of the Felidae is reconstructed using a total evidence approach combining sequences from 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, NADH-5, and cytochrome b genes with morphological and karyological characters. The 1504-character data set generated two equally parsimonious trees (CI = 0.413, 1795 steps) of which a strict consensus revealed one polytomy in the placement of the bay cat group. The tree supports several traditional groupings such as the genera Panthera and Lynx and the ocelot group of small South American felids, and it provides additional resolution of relationships within and among the major felid lineages. Combining phylogenetic, distributional, and ecological data indicates that vicariant speciation has played a relatively minor role in the diversification of the felids (approximately 26% of events), while sympatric speciation has been more important than expected on theoretical grounds (approximately 51.8% of events), although postspeciation dispersal may have blurred the boundaries between sympatric, parapatric, and peripheral isolate modes. An examination of ecological changes on the felid tree shows repeated patterns of resource partitioning in time (activity patterns), space (preferred habitat type), and food (as measured by body size) among closely related species. The rapid diversification of the cats thus appears to have been associated more with ecological than with geological separation. Discover the world's research 20+ million members 135+ million publications 700k+ research projects Join for free No full-text available To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors. Request full-text PDF Citations (141) References (140) ... It could be that the two species diverged when Borneo first became an island during PLIO 3, or if temmincki is considered to be of Indochinese affinity and badia of Sundaic affinity, then it is possible that the two lineages separated during PLIO 2 when the Sundaic and Indochinese subregions may have become separated. It should be noted, however, that Mattern and McLennan (2000) suggested a process of sympatric speciation associated with an increase in body size in C. temmincki. More generally, these latter authors suggested that vicariant speciation appears to have played a limited role in the Felidae. ... ... These three species probably diverged from a common ancestor some 3.95 Mya (Johnson & O'Brien 1997). According to Mattern and McLennan (2000) these species evolved sympatrically associated with movement into thicker forest, coupled with the origin of climbing ability in bengalensis. It could also be that these species evolved as the result of allopatric speciation, when high sea levels during PLIO 2, may have split Sumatra from the rest of Sundaland and Sundaland from the Asian mainland; ecological specialization of the 3 species would then have occurred after their initial divergence and was not the direct cause of it. ... ... Pardofelis marmorata, the Marbled Cat of the Himalayas, Indochina, and Sundaland, formed part of the radiation in a group including the genus Lynx (O'Brien 1996), although in the study by Johnson and O'Brien (1997), this species did not consistently associate with any other felid; a relationship with the Puma group was in that study more likely. Mattern and McLennan (2000) found a more likely close relationshio between Catopuma and Pardofelis marmorata. Finally, the radiation of the group containing Panthera and Neofelis (the Clouded Leopard) occurred some 6-5.5 Mya, according to O'Brien et al. (1987) and Johnson and O'Brien (1997), although in another paper O' Brien (1996) estimated that this radiation occurred in the Pleistocene. ... Solving Mammalian Riddles : A reconstruction of the Tertiary and Quaternary distribution of mammals and their palaeoenvironments in island South-East Asia Thesis Full-text available Jan 2004 Erik Meijaard Since the mid 19th century, the biogeography of island South-East Asia has been the subject of much study. Early researchers explained many of the species distribution patterns by the rise and fall of sea levels and land. This and the work of other researchers culminated in a theory that emphasized the role of Pleistocene sea level low stands in species evolution. With the advent of newly developed molecular techniques, however, it became clear that many species divergence events had taken place before the Pleistocene and a biogeographical theory focusing on Pleistocene sea level changes was inadequate. In this research, I have developed a new biogeographic model that explains present-day distribution patterns and evolutionary relationships between species. I use this new model to explain 10 ‘mammalian riddles’, i.e. evolutionary or distribution patterns in selected mammal species groups that could not be explained with the existing theories. I developed the new model by analyzing the geological literature for this region, and by mapping palaeogeographical and palaeoenvironmental changes for the last 20 million years. In addition I compiled information on the palaeontological record for the region and on divergence times between taxa using a molecular clock assumption. These phylogenetic data were compared with the palaeomaps to assess whether particular divergence events could be correlated with certain palaeogeographical or palaeoenvironmental changes. The combination of these two information sources has resulted in a much-improved understanding of mammalian evolution in island SE Asia. Using this model it is now possible to relate important palaeoenvironmental events, such as the Late Miocene cooling, an Early–Middle Pliocene highstand, or the emergence and submergence of a land bridge between the Malay Peninsula and Java to evolutionary changes in species. I test the accuracy of the new model by analysing the relationships within several mammal groups using craniometric and molecular analysis. The observed relationships and deduced timing of divergence between taxa could in many cases be explained by the model, which indicates that it is relatively accurate. In addition, with the new model I have been able to find solutions to most mammalian riddles, although these results require further testing. Overall, I therefore believe I have made a significant contribution to the biogeographical understanding of island SE Asia. View Show abstract ... There have been long debates about the systematics of the felids. Different methods have been used to classify the cat family, using morphological (POCOCK 1917, HEMMER 1978, GROVES 1982, HAST 1989, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000, behavioural (LEYHAUSEN 1979), and genetic features. Researchers have used vocalizations (PETERS & HAST 1994, PETERS & TONKIN-LEYHAUSEN 1999, PETERS et al. 2009), shapes of the pupils (NEFF 1982, NOWAK 1991, hybridization records, karyotype (WURSTER-HILL & CENTERWALL 1982, KRATOCHVÍL 1982, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000 and more recently DNA analyses (SALLES 1992, JOHNSON & O'BRIEN 1997, PECON-SLATTERY & O'BRIEN 1998, BININDA-EMONDS et al. 1999, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000, O'BRIEN et al. 2008. ... ... Different methods have been used to classify the cat family, using morphological (POCOCK 1917, HEMMER 1978, GROVES 1982, HAST 1989, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000, behavioural (LEYHAUSEN 1979), and genetic features. Researchers have used vocalizations (PETERS & HAST 1994, PETERS & TONKIN-LEYHAUSEN 1999, PETERS et al. 2009), shapes of the pupils (NEFF 1982, NOWAK 1991, hybridization records, karyotype (WURSTER-HILL & CENTERWALL 1982, KRATOCHVÍL 1982, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000 and more recently DNA analyses (SALLES 1992, JOHNSON & O'BRIEN 1997, PECON-SLATTERY & O'BRIEN 1998, BININDA-EMONDS et al. 1999, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000, O'BRIEN et al. 2008. Lately the cat family has been divided into 37 species; however numbers vary between 36 and 39 species, depending on the author. ... ... Different methods have been used to classify the cat family, using morphological (POCOCK 1917, HEMMER 1978, GROVES 1982, HAST 1989, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000, behavioural (LEYHAUSEN 1979), and genetic features. Researchers have used vocalizations (PETERS & HAST 1994, PETERS & TONKIN-LEYHAUSEN 1999, PETERS et al. 2009), shapes of the pupils (NEFF 1982, NOWAK 1991, hybridization records, karyotype (WURSTER-HILL & CENTERWALL 1982, KRATOCHVÍL 1982, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000 and more recently DNA analyses (SALLES 1992, JOHNSON & O'BRIEN 1997, PECON-SLATTERY & O'BRIEN 1998, BININDA-EMONDS et al. 1999, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000, O'BRIEN et al. 2008. Lately the cat family has been divided into 37 species; however numbers vary between 36 and 39 species, depending on the author. ... Ecology and population status of the Serval Leptailurus serval (SCHREBER, 1776) in Zambia Thesis Full-text available Feb 2011 Christine Thiel-Bender View ... There have been long debates about the systematics of the felids. Different methods have been used to classify the cat family, using morphological (POCOCK 1917, HEMMER 1978, GROVES 1982, HAST 1989, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000, behavioural (LEYHAUSEN 1979), and genetic features. Researchers have used vocalizations (PETERS & HAST 1994, PETERS & TONKIN-LEYHAUSEN 1999, PETERS et al. 2009), shapes of the pupils (NEFF 1982, NOWAK 1991, hybridization records, karyotype (WURSTER-HILL & CENTERWALL 1982, KRATOCHVÍL 1982, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000 and more recently DNA analyses (SALLES 1992, JOHNSON & O'BRIEN 1997, PECON-SLATTERY & O'BRIEN 1998, BININDA-EMONDS et al. 1999, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000, O'BRIEN et al. 2008. ... ... Different methods have been used to classify the cat family, using morphological (POCOCK 1917, HEMMER 1978, GROVES 1982, HAST 1989, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000, behavioural (LEYHAUSEN 1979), and genetic features. Researchers have used vocalizations (PETERS & HAST 1994, PETERS & TONKIN-LEYHAUSEN 1999, PETERS et al. 2009), shapes of the pupils (NEFF 1982, NOWAK 1991, hybridization records, karyotype (WURSTER-HILL & CENTERWALL 1982, KRATOCHVÍL 1982, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000 and more recently DNA analyses (SALLES 1992, JOHNSON & O'BRIEN 1997, PECON-SLATTERY & O'BRIEN 1998, BININDA-EMONDS et al. 1999, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000, O'BRIEN et al. 2008. Lately the cat family has been divided into 37 species; however numbers vary between 36 and 39 species, depending on the author. ... ... Different methods have been used to classify the cat family, using morphological (POCOCK 1917, HEMMER 1978, GROVES 1982, HAST 1989, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000, behavioural (LEYHAUSEN 1979), and genetic features. Researchers have used vocalizations (PETERS & HAST 1994, PETERS & TONKIN-LEYHAUSEN 1999, PETERS et al. 2009), shapes of the pupils (NEFF 1982, NOWAK 1991, hybridization records, karyotype (WURSTER-HILL & CENTERWALL 1982, KRATOCHVÍL 1982, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000 and more recently DNA analyses (SALLES 1992, JOHNSON & O'BRIEN 1997, PECON-SLATTERY & O'BRIEN 1998, BININDA-EMONDS et al. 1999, MATTERN & MCLENNAN 2000, O'BRIEN et al. 2008. Lately the cat family has been divided into 37 species; however numbers vary between 36 and 39 species, depending on the author. ... Ecology and population status of the Serval Leptailurus serval (SCHREBER, 1776) in Zambia Thesis Feb 2011 Christine Thiel Little is known about the Serval’s ecology, its needs and population status. This thesis is providing a new and detailed groundwork on this elusive felid species. The study was conducted between 2006 and 2008 in Zambia, with the focus area being Luambe National Park (LNP) in the Luangwa Valley. Keywords: Felidae, Serval, Leptailurus serval, diet, habitat, minimum population size, SDM model, ticks, Zambia, Africa View Show abstract ... The Felidae include 37 extant species (Wozencraft, Wilson & Reeder, 2005), occurring in all continents except in Antarctica (Redford & Eisenberg, 1992;Sunquist & Sunquist, 2009). The species are separated into eight lineages (Johnson et al., 2006;O'Brien & Johnson, 2007), of which the monophyletic Panthera lineage, supported by both morphological and molecular evidence (Hemmer, 1978;Herrington, 1986;Salles, 1992;Janczewski et al., 1995;Johnson et al., 1996Johnson et al., , 2006Bininda-Emonds, Gittleman & Purvis, 1999;Mattern & McLennan, 2000;Bininda-Emonds, Decker-Flum & Gittleman, 2001;Jae-Heup et al., 2001;Yu & Zhang, 2005;Christiansen, 2008a;Davis, Li & Murphy, 2010), comprises six large felid species widely distributed in the world (Wozencraft et al., 2005). Pantherines had an ancestor whose lineage branched off the rest of the felids at about 6.4 Mya (Fig. 1, Johnson et al., 2006;O'Brien & Johnson, 2007). ... ... Herrington, 1986;Janczewski et al., 1995;Johnson et al., 1996;Bininda-Emonds et al., 1999Jae-Heup et al., 2001;Christiansen, 2008a;Davis et al., 2010), although in some studies P. leo and P. onca (e.g. Johnson et al., 2006) or P. onca and P. tigris (Mattern & McLennan, 2000) are sister species. ... Three‐dimensional cranial ontogeny in pantherines (Panthera leo, P. onca, P. pardus, P. tigris; Carnivora:, Felidae) Article Aug 2016 Biol J Linn Soc Valentina Segura Guillermo Cassini Francisco Juan Prevosti The Panthera lineage is a monophyletic clade of felids, supported by both morphological and molecular evidence. The lineage includes large species with cranial similarity such as Panthera leo and P. tigris, and other with very different cranium such as P. pardus. The aim of our work was to study the cranial ontogeny of Pantherines, elucidating whether their cranial shape is a product of size or phylogeny, and to compare these findings with available information about other carnivores. We studied 370 specimens using geometric morphometrics technique in three dimensions. Panthera leo and P. tigris show similar ontogenetic trajectories, sharing adult crania with wider rostrum, shorter basicranium and vertical occipital plate. The cranial configuration of P. leo is a scaling version of P. tigris. P. pardus shows the most different cranial pattern, with adults having a rounded braincase and zygomatic arches less expanded than the rest, whereas P. onca occupies an intermediate place between these patterns. P. pardus is the species with the smallest birth weight and the lowest growth rate, reaching a final size and shape later than the remaining species. Adult shape morphology reflects no relation to phylogenetic placement of the species and it is probably related to Pantherine body size. View Show abstract ... All felids exhibit relatively little variation of body shape and lifestyle across their worldwide distribution (Martin, 1989;Rothwell, 2003;MacDonald, 2009;Sunquist and Sunquist, 2017;Piras et al., 2018). Regardless of their overall phenotypic similarities, they show an incredible range of size and mass from around 1 kg (Prionailurus rubiginosus) (Mattern and McLennan, 2000) to over 300 kg for Panthera tigris (Hayward et al., 2012). Cuff et al. (2015) demonstrated that felids show two selective body mass optima: (i) around 5 kg for "small cats", and (ii) around 100 kg for "big cats", and that their body masses were significantly different among prey choice classes (small, mixed, large). ... ... For these carnivores a large number of functional studies, including paleontological investigations, suggest that locomotion and predatory behavior are major evolutionary pressures on body size and mass (Mattern and McLennan, 2000;Hayward and Kerley, 2005;Meachen-Samuels andVan Valkenburgh, 2009a, 2009b;Slater and Van Valkenburgh, 2009;Hayward et al., 2012;Samuels et al., 2013). Indeed, felids also show similarities in their behavior related to locomotion. ... Iliac auricular surface morphofunctional study in felidae Article Oct 2019 ZOOLOGY Jean-Pierre Pallandre Raphaël Cornette Marie-Ange Placide Vincent Bels Felids show remarkable phenotypic similarities and are conservative in behavioral and ecological traits. In contrast, they display a large range in body mass from around 1kg to more than 300kg. Body size and locomotory specializations correlate to skull, limb and vertebral skeleton morphology. With an increase in body mass, felids prey selection switches from small to large, from using a rapid skull or spine lethal bite for small prey, to sustained suffocating bite for large prey. Dietary specialization correlates to skull and front limbs morphology but no correlation was found on the spine or on the hind limb. The morphology of the sacroiliac junction in relation to ecological factors remained to be described. We are presenting a study of the overall shape of the iliac auricular surface with qualitative and quantitative analyses of its morphology. Our results demonstrate that body mass, prey selection, and bite type, crucially influence the auricular surface, where no significant effect of locomotor specialization was found. The outline of the surface is significantly more elevated dorso-caudally and the joint surface shows an irregular W-shape topography in big cats whereas the surface in small cats is smoother with a C-shape topography and less of an elevated ridge. Biomechanically, we suggest that a complex auricular surface increases joint stiffness and provides more support in heavier cats, an advantage for subduing big prey successfully during a sustained bite. View Show abstract ... Some of the assumptions are based purely on the experience of cat owners found on the internet [3]. The average weight of a cat can be estimated to be 4.5 kg [5]. The height of one floor of an average house of blocks in post-Soviet republics varies from 2.5 m to 3.0 m. ... ... , m is the mass of the cat estimated as[5] ... Free fall of a cat—freshman physics exercise Article Jul 2016 EUR J PHYS Filip Studnička Jan Slegr David Štegner This paper describes theoretical calculation of the terminal velocity of falling cat, taking the air drag into account. The results show that a fall from the seventh floor is critical for the cat so we introduce a new quantity called the 'coefficient of the cat's fear' during free fall. A subsequent experiment with a model of a cat carrying the accelerometer confirmed this conclusion. This calculation and experiment can act as a strong motivational factor during introductory physics courses. View Show abstract ... The fossil record of the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) is scarce, and includes several fragmentary finds from the North American Pleistocene [53,54]; most are Irvingtonian, but the species may well have persisted into the Sangamonian [55]; it is still found in the southern USA today [56,57]. The lineage was inferred to be 5.1 MYA by Mattern & McLennan (2000), but only 2.9 MYA by Johnson et al. (2006) [10,58]. We infer an age of 6.5 MYA for this entire lineage, to accommodate the age of Lynx-Acinonyx. ... ... The fossil record of the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) is scarce, and includes several fragmentary finds from the North American Pleistocene [53,54]; most are Irvingtonian, but the species may well have persisted into the Sangamonian [55]; it is still found in the southern USA today [56,57]. The lineage was inferred to be 5.1 MYA by Mattern & McLennan (2000), but only 2.9 MYA by Johnson et al. (2006) [10,58]. We infer an age of 6.5 MYA for this entire lineage, to accommodate the age of Lynx-Acinonyx. ... Text S5 Data Full-text available Mar 2009 Michael Doube Alexis Wiktorowicz Conroy Per Christiansen Sandra J Shefelbine Construction of the felid cladogram for phylogenetic contrasts. Justification for the construction of the felid cladogram and description of the phylogenetic control applied to the allometric calculations. (0.11 MB PDF) View Show abstract ... In a relatively short span of geologic time, modern big cats diversified and colonized Asia, Europe, and the Americas. It has been suggested that their speciation relied more upon ecological divergence than geographic separation (Mattern & McLennan, 2000). Many species in the genus Panthera have died out, with fairly frequent new fossil discoveries continuing to be reported. ... ... From our present perspective, these factors also obscure the relationships among extinct and living species. They make it difficult to identify clear pathways from jaguars' beginnings to where the species is today, and it is evident that the complete story has not yet been told (Mattern & McLennan, 2000). ... Jaguar Care Manual Book Full-text available Sep 2016 Stacey Johnson Cheri Asa William Baker Ann Ward View ... Secondly, since all species are evolutionarily linked, and consequently, do not represent truly independent determinations as required by the rules of statistic, we constructed a phylogenetic tree to calculate phylogenetic independent contrasts. To this end, we used the NCBI Taxonomy Browser (http:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/CommonTree/wwwcmt.cgi) in conjunction with the works of several authors (Randi et al., 1998;Martin et al., 2000;Michaux et al., 2002;Perelman et al., 2011;Vilstrup et al., 2013;Robovský et al., 2008;Mattern, 2000) that were instrumental to resolve most polytomies. One remaining polytomy was arbitrarily resolved (Fig. 3A). ... Genetic instability and aging under the scrutiny of comparative biology: A meta-analysis of spontaneous micronuclei frequency Article Apr 2016 Eleonora Croco Silvia Marchionni Antonello Lorenzini In gerontology, comparative biology of longevity offers a powerful observation point thus far underexploited. We use this approach to evaluate the role of genetic stability in longevity determination, extrapolating existing data from the literature. Screening eight pre-existing studies, we collected data from 47 mammalian species and analyzed the relationship of spontaneous micronucleated erythrocyte frequency to species maximum longevity and species adult body mass. Since in 26 of these species the spleen removes micronucleated erythrocytes from the peripheral circulation, we conducted further comparative analysis on the remaining 21 species. We demonstrate that spontaneous micronucleated erythrocyte frequency correlates primarily with body mass and not with maximum longevity. We suggest that other data on genetic stability could be collected from published works in different species and analyzed in a similar way to test further the role of genetic stability in aging. View Show abstract ... A composite phylogenetic tree for North American carnivores (Fig. 3) was based on a number of phylogenetic studies (Erdbrink, 1953;Van Valkenburgh et al., 1990;Mazza and Rustioni, 1993;Baskin, 1998aBaskin, , 1998bHunt, 1998;Mattern and McLennan, 2000;Wesley-Hunt and Flynn, 2003;Flynn and Wesley-Hunt, 2005;Wesley-Hunt, 2005;Johnson et al., 2006;Polly et al., 2006;Fulton and Strobeck, 2007;Yu et al., 2007;Sato et al., 2009;Tedford et al., 2009;Agnarsson et al., 2010;Eizirik et al., 2010;Flynn et al., 2010;Wolsan and Sato, 2010;Fuentes-González and Muñoz-Durán, 2012;Spaulding and Flynn, 2012;Tseng et al., 2013). Divergence dates for the tree's nodes are based on fossils that have been subjected to rigorous phylogenetic analyses in the above Fig. 3. Phylogeny of living North American Carnivora with divergence times calibrated with key fossil occurrences. ... Clade sorting has a greater effect than local adaptation on ecometric patterns in Carnivora Article Full-text available Feb 2017 EVOL ECOL RES Paul David Polly Jesualdo Arturo Fuentes-González A. Michelle Lawing Robert G Dundas Background: Ecometric patterning is the sorting of mean values of functional traits in communities in space through time at continental scales. Ecometric patterns can emerge from intraspecific population-level processes (selection along an environmental gradient), species-level processes (geographic sorting of species based on functional trait differences), or clade-level processes (geographic sorting based on phylogenetically shared traits). We analysed a hind limb ratio related to locomotion in carnivores (Mammalia, Carnivora) to determine (1) whether its ecometric patterning involves intraspecific population-level evolutionary processes; (2) whether ecometric patterning is produced by clade sorting processes; and (3) how ecometric patterns are altered by species turnover during glacial–interglacial cycles. Data: We analysed (1) intraspecific variation in hind limb ratio in five species to evaluate the importance of population-level processes in ecometric patterning; (2) the distributions of ratios within and among communities to evaluate the importance of clade sorting; and (3) the distributions of ratios of seven glacial fossil assemblages to evaluate temporal dynamics in ecometric patterns. We also analysed three-dimensional calcaneum shape to assess the strength of phylogenetic and functional components of hind limb variation. Analytical methods: Geometric morphometrics, phylogenetic comparative methods, and phylogenetic community assembly methods were used to evaluate trait-based clade sorting; RLQ analysis was used to measure the correlation between vegetation openness, spatial scale, species occurrences, phylogeny, and hind limb traits; and trait space was used to analyse turnover between glacial and extant carnivore communities. Results: Population-level selection is either too weak or ineffective to produce hind limb trait gradients within carnivore species; however, clade-level trait-based sorting has a strong impact on community-level trait distributions. RLQ analysis demonstrates that clade membership interacts with hind limb ratios and vegetation openness in carnivore community assembly. Glacial–interglacial cycles produced turnover in faunas and hind limb trait distributions regardless of location or biome. View Show abstract ... We found no consistent signal of the geography of speciation. This is surprising given widespread agreement that allopatric speciation is probably the norm in mammals (e.g., Patton and da Silva 1998;Alexander and Riddle 2005; but see Mattern and McLennan 2000). Our failure to detect consistent phylogenetic signal in geographic range overlap suggests that ARC analyses have limited power for many mammals. ... The geography of mammalian speciation: Mixed signals from phylogenies and range maps Article Full-text available Mar 2006 Evolution Benjamin Minault Fitzpatrick Michael Turelli Abstract The importance of geographic isolation in speciation has been debated since the 19th century. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the consensus has been that most speciation involves divergence in allopatry. This consensus was based largely on decades of observations by naturalists and verbal arguments against speciation without isolation. Recent attempts to quantify the importance of allopatric versus sympatric speciation using comparative methods called “age-range correlation” (ARC) suggest that allopatric speciation is more common than sympatric speciation. However, very few taxa have been studied and there are concerns about the adequacy of the methods. We propose methodological improvements including changes in the way overlap between clades is quantified and Monte Carlo methods to test the null hypothesis of no relationship between phylogenetic relatedness and geographic range overlap. We analyze 14 clades of mammals, chosen because of the availability of data and the consensus among mammalogists that speciation is routinely allopatric. Although data from a few clades clearly indicate allopatric speciation, divergence with gene flow is plausible in others and many results are inconclusive. The relative rarity of significant correlations between phylogenetic distance and range overlap may have three distinct causes: (1) postspeciation range changes, (2) relative rarity of range overlap, and (3) a mixture of geographic modes of speciation. Our results support skepticism about ARC's power for inferring the biogeography of speciation. Yet, even if few clades provide clear signals, meta-analytic approaches such as ARC may set bounds on the prevalence of alternative modes of speciation. View Show abstract ... Remarks: The fossil record of this genus is very scarce (Soibelzon and Prevosti, 2007), and the available diagnoses and descriptions for species of this genus are based on soft tissue characters (Seymour, 1999) and upper teeth (Salles, 1992;Mattern and McLennan, 2000). ... Quaternary biostratigraphy and biogeography of mountain region of Córdoba, Argentina Article May 2017 Jeronimo Krapovickas Adan Tauber José Augusto Haro In Argentina, Quaternary paleontological and biostratigraphic studies were mainly conducted in the Pampas plains of the provinces of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Formosa and Santa Fe. The aim of the present study is to analyse the Pleistocene-Holocene record of the high plains of mountain in Córdoba in order to make interpretations on their biostratigraphical, geochronological, and paleobiogeographical significance. Representatives of 20 extinct and four living mammal species are listed, documenting the existence of two successive Assemblage Zones: Scelidotherium leptocephalum-Glyptodon reticulatus (between 37,095 ± 2020 and 14,040 ± 785 years BP) and Panochthus- Equus (Amerhippus) (between 14,040 ± 785 and 9181 years BP). The presence of supposed Ensenadan or Bonaerian taxa (e.g., Mesotherium sp., Catonyx tarijensis, Megatherium americanum, and Glossotherium sp.) in late Pleistocene sediments suggests that the mountainous area of Córdoba has acted as a refuge area or reservoir. The Quaternary faunas recorded in the Pampean highlands, Pampean flats, and western and northern regions of Argentina do not show differences in the morphological characteristics and numbers of taxa. View Show abstract ... In contrast, the genetic hypothesis states that the genus Lynx probably originated in North America around 6.7 million years ago (Mattern and McLennan 2000;Johnson et al. 2006 (Janczewski et al. 1995;Johnson et al. 2006). This common ancestor gave rise to L. rufus 3.24 million years ago and then differentiated into L. canadensis and the progenitors of L. lynx and the Iberian lynx L. pardinus 1.61 million years ago (Johnson et al. 2006). ... Lynx canadensis (Carnivora: Felidae) Article Dec 2019 Maxime Lavoie Aurélie Renard Serge Larivière Lynx canadensis Kerr, 1792, commonly called the Canada lynx, is a medium size felid and is the second largest of the four species in the genus Lynx. It is distributed throughout the boreal forest of most of Canada and Alaska and across portions of the northern United States. It prefers dense, regenerating coniferous forests with moderate canopy and understory cover. L. canadensis is a snowshoe hare specialist, and its ecology, morphology, and behavior closely reflect that of its main prey. It is listed as “Least Concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, is on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and its population size trend is considered stable. However, the status of United States subpopulations, being largely peripheral to the Canadian population, is more tenuous and the species is protected. View Show abstract ... Traditionally it has been included in the genus Herpailurus, by Severtzow in 1858, although it was recently included in the genus Puma (Bininda-Emonds et al., 2001;Johnson et al., 2006;Mattern and McLennan, 2000). The majority of molecular phylogenetics studies show close genetic relationships among the puma (Puma concolor), the cheetah (Acynonix jubatus) and the jaguarundi (Johnson et al., 2006;Li et al., 2016). ... Mitogenomics of the jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi, Felidae, Carnivora): unclear correlation between morphological subspecies and molecular data Article Full-text available Nov 2017 PLOS ONE Manuel Ruiz-García Myreya Pinedo Joseph Shostell We analyzed 80 mitogenomes of the elusive jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi, Felidae, Carnivora), representing seven of the eight putative morphological subspecies traditionally described. The mitochondrial genetic diversity levels were very high in this cat species and therefore similar to other Neotropical cats. Nonetheless, the number of significantly different molecular clusters did not align well with putative morphological subspecies. We detected three possible molecular subspecies: P. y. yagouaroundi (wide distribution in Central and South America), P. y. melantho (Central Andean, and their inter-valleys, Peruvian area) and P. y. eyra (Paraguay and northern Argentina). There were also small geographical clusters with no correspondence with the morphological subspecies, especially in Costa Rica, northern and eastern Colombia, and Pacific trans-Andean Colombia and Ecuador. Thus, the number of molecular subspecies in jaguarundi could be less than the number defined morphologically. However, well-differentiated mitochondrial lineages could exist in the area of the putative P. y. panamensis and correspond to undescribed subspecies. The temporal split of the ancestors of the puma and jaguarundi and the initial mitochondrial diversification within the jaguarundi occurred during the late Pliocene, but the major fraction of haplotype proliferation happened during the Pleistocene. All the procedures we used detected a strong population expansion for the jaguarundi during the Günz-Mindel interglacial period of the Pleistocene. The spatial genetic analyses showed that the isolation-by-distance patterns are not well developed in this species. In contrast, we detected a very significant circular cline with spatial autocorrelation. Therefore, from a molecular perspective some of the individuals far removed from each other geographically are also very similar. This new information may be very helpful to conservation ecologists and managers of jaguarundi habitats as we continue to improve our understanding of the evolutionary history of this cat species. View Show abstract ... However, despite the 300-fold range in body mass in felids, limb posture is remarkably uniform throughout the clade and, instead, some bone allometry is observed in limb long bones' cross-sections (Day & Jayne, 2007;Doube et al., 2009;Zhang et al., 2012). Indeed, it has been hypothesized that the lack of correlation between body size and limb posture in felids may reflect a large-bodied ancestral condition for the clade (Mattern & McLennan, 2000;Johnson et al., 2006;Day & Jayne, 2007; but see Cuff et al., 2015). ... Cryptic complexity in felid vertebral evolution: Shape differentiation and allometry of the axial skeleton Article Full-text available Mar 2016 ZOOL J LINN SOC-LOND Marcela Randau Anjali Goswami John R. Hutchinson Stephanie E Pierce Members of the mammalian family Felidae (extant and extinct cats) are grossly phenotypically similar, but display a 300-fold range in body size, from less than 1 kg to more than 300 kg. In addition to differences in body mass, felid species show dietary and locomotory specializations that correlate to skull and limb osteological measurements, such as shape or cross-sectional area. However, ecological correlates to the axial skeleton are yet untested. Here, we build on previous studies of the biomechanical and morphological evolution of the felid appendicular skeleton by conducting a quantitative analysis of morphology and allometry in the presacral vertebral column across extant cats. Our results demonstrate that vertebral columns of arboreal, scansorial and terrestrial felids significantly differ in morphology, specifically in the lumbar region, while no distinction based on dietary specialization was found. Body size significantly influences vertebral morphology, with clear regionalization of allometry along the vertebral column, suggesting that anterior (cervicals and thoracics) and posterior (lumbar) vertebrae may be independently subjected to distinct selection pressures. View Show abstract ... Actualmente se encuentra en discusión su clasificación taxonómica. Algunos autores lo clasificaron dentro del género Puma (Bininda-Emonds et al. 1999, Mattern y McLennan 2000, Johnson et al. 2006, Eizirik et al. 2008. Sin embargo, Agnarsson et al. (2010) y Segura et al. (2013), sugieren que no pertenece al mismo género que el puma, por lo que el Grupo de Especialistas de Felinos de la IUCN volvió a clasificar al yaguarundí dentro del género Herpailurus (Caso et al. 2015 siendo considerado un felino raro en la mayoría de las regiones en donde se distribuye (Oliverira et al. 2015). ... Distribución, requerimientos de hábitat e interacciones ecológicas de los felinos medianos y pequeños del Bosque Atlántico del Alto Paraná de la provincia de Misiones Thesis Full-text available Mar 2017 Paula Cruz The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), a medium-sized felid, and the small felids, jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi), margay (Leopardus wiedii), and oncilla (Leopardus guttulus), have a mostly sympatric distribution throughout most of the Neotropics, but little is known about their habitat requirements and the mechanisms that allow their coexistence. Due to differences in size, it is expected that the three small cats maintain strong indirect competitive relationships among them, and ocelots exert an interference competition on the small felids. The aim of this thesis was to study the distribution and habitat requirements of these felids in the Atlantic Forest of Misiones, understand their interspecific interactions and how they are affected by changes produced by humans on the environment. Using Species Distribution Models I evaluated the distribution of and habitat suitability for these felids in the region. Using data obtained by camera traps in low and moderately disturbed areas and analyzed with Occupancy and Co-occurrence models I evaluated habitat use and potential spatial avoidance between species at a more detailed scale. I also evaluated overlap in diet and activity patterns. Due to the scarcity of data obtained for margays and jaguarundis I could not analyze their habitat use at this detailed scale or their diet. The four felids were associated with the presence of native forest. Ocelot occupancy was significantly higher in continuous native forest sites with low human accessibility. Oncilla occupancy did not vary according to habitat conditions, but was significantly higher in sites with a low probability of ocelot occurrence. Oncillas´ spatial avoidance of ocelots was higher as human disturbance increased. Oncillas and ocelots had a large degree of trophic niche overlap. None of the felines modified their activity in relation to the presence of the ocelot or the level of human impact. Some of my results support the hypothesis that oncillas are sensitive to competitive pressure of ocelots. In order to preserve long term populations of these felids it is necessary to conserve continuous native forest and areas with fragmented forest to ensure landscape connectivity. View Show abstract ... Actualmente se encuentra en discusión su clasificación taxonómica. Algunos autores lo clasificaron dentro del género Puma (Bininda-Emonds et al. 1999, Mattern y McLennan 2000, Johnson et al. 2006, Eizirik et al. 2008. Sin embargo, Agnarsson et al. (2010) y Segura et al. (2013), sugieren que no pertenece al mismo género que el puma, por lo que el Grupo de Especialistas de Felinos de la IUCN volvió a clasificar al yaguarundí dentro del género Herpailurus (Caso et al. 2015 siendo considerado un felino raro en la mayoría de las regiones en donde se distribuye (Oliverira et al. 2015). ... DISTRIBUTION, HABITAT REQUIREMENTS AND ECOLOGICAL INTERACTIONS OF MEDIUM AND SMALL FELIDS OF THE UPPER PARANA ATLANTIC FOREST OF MISIONES PROVINCE Thesis Full-text available Mar 2017 Paula Cruz The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), a medium-sized felid, and the small felids, jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi), margay (Leopardus wiedii), and oncilla (Leopardus guttulus), have a mostly sympatric distribution throughout most of the Neotropics, but little is known about their habitat requirements and the mechanisms that allow their coexistence. Due to differences in size, it is expected that the three small cats maintain strong indirect competitive relationships among them, and ocelots exert an interference competition on the small felids. The aim of this thesis was to study the distribution and habitat requirements of these felids in the Atlantic Forest of Misiones, understand their interspecific interactions and how they are affected by changes produced by humans on the environment. Using Species Distribution Models I evaluated the distribution of and habitat suitability for these felids in the region. Using data obtained by camera traps in low and moderately disturbed areas and analyzed with Occupancy and Co-occurrence models I evaluated habitat use and potential spatial avoidance between species at a more detailed scale. I also evaluated overlap in diet and activity patterns. Due to the scarcity of data obtained for margays and jaguarundis I could not analyze their habitat use at this detailed scale or their diet. The four felids were associated with the presence of native forest. Ocelot occupancy was significantly higher in continuous native forest sites with low human accessibility. Oncilla occupancy did not vary according to habitat conditions, but was significantly higher in sites with a low probability of ocelot occurrence. Oncillas´ spatial avoidance of ocelots was higher as human disturbance increased. Oncillas and ocelots had a large degree of trophic niche overlap. None of the felines modified their activity in relation to the presence of the ocelot or the level of human impact. Some of my results support the hypothesis that oncillas are sensitive to competitive pressure of ocelots. In order to preserve long term populations of these felids it is necessary to conserve continuous native forest and areas with fragmented forest to ensure landscape connectivity. View Show abstract ... Lynch (1989) proposed that range overlap and relative range sizes of sister species or supra-specific taxa could be used to infer geographical modes of speciation, with substantial overlap pointing to sympatric speciation, and little overlap indicating allopatric speciation. Such reasoning has been used to argue for greater frequencies of sympatric speciation in nature than previously thought (e.g. Mattern & McLennan 2000), but has also received criticism given that a key assumption—that geographical ranges of natural organisms are constant through time—is probably seldom true (reviewed in Losos & Glor 2003; Coyne 2007). Extending the logic of studying range overlap, Coyne & Price (2000) emphasized the value of looking for 'sister species' (species that are each other's closest relatives ) that are both vagile yet restricted geographically to the same small area, such as an oceanic island (also see White 1978). ... Speciation processes in putative island endemic sister bat species: False impressions from mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite data Article Oct 2015 Mol Ecol Hao-Chih Kuo Shiang-Fan Chen Yin-Ping Fang Stephen J Rossiter Cases of geographically restricted co-occurring sister taxa are rare and may point to potential divergence with gene flow. The two bat species Murina gracilis and M. recondita are both endemic to Taiwan and are putative sister species. To test for non-allopatric divergence and gene flow in these taxa, we generated sequences using Sanger and Next Generation Sequencing, and combined these with microsatellite data for coalescent-based analyses. MtDNA phylogenies supported the reciprocally monophyletic sister relationship between M. gracilis and M. recondita, however, clustering of microsatellite genotypes revealed several cases of species admixture suggesting possible introgression. Sequencing of microsatellite flanking regions revealed that admixture signatures stemmed from microsatellite allele homoplasy rather than recent introgressive hybridization, and also uncovered an unexpected sister relationship between M. recondita and the continental species M. eleryi, to the exclusion of M. gracilis. To dissect the basis of these conflicts between ncDNA and mtDNA, we analysed sequences from 10 anonymous ncDNA loci with *BEAST and isolation-with-migration (IM) and found two distinct clades of M. eleryi, one of which was sister to M. recondita. We conclude that Taiwan was colonized by the ancestor of M. gracilis first, followed by the ancestor of M. recondita after a period of allopatric divergence. After colonization, the mitochondrial genome of M. recondita was replaced by that of the resident M. gracilis. This study illustrates how apparent signatures of sympatric divergence can arise from complex histories of allopatric divergence, colonization and hybridization, thus highlighting the need for rigorous analyses to distinguish between such scenarios. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. View Show abstract ... In recent years, the biogeographic history and phylogenetic relationships of felids have received increased attention (Mattern and McLennan 2000; Johnson et al. 2006; Goswami and Friscia 2010; Christiansen 2013). The Felidae was one of the most successful groups during the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI) (Webb 2006; Johnson et al. 2006; Prevosti 2006; Prevosti et al. 2011; Bacon et al. 2015), when numerous independent diversification and migration events occurred in both directions (Johnson et al. 2006; Prevosti 2006; Cione et al. 2007; Prevosti and Soibelzon 2012). ... Wild Felid Range Shift Due to Climatic Constraints in the Americas: a Bottleneck Explanation for Extinct Felids? Article Full-text available Dec 2017 J Mamm Evol Andrés Arias-Alzate José F. González-Maya Joaquin Arroyo-Cabrales Enrique Martínez-Meyer Theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that the ecological niche of species tends to be conservative over evolutionary time in many taxonomic groups, thus representing long-term stable constraints on species geographic distributions. Using an ecological niche modeling approach, we assessed the impact of climatic change on wild felid species potential range shifts over the last 130 K years in the Americas and the potential of such shifts as an extinction driver. We found a significant range shift for most species (both living and extinct) across their distributions driven by large-scale environmental changes. Proportionally, the most drastic range increase for all species occurred in the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM: 18 K years)–Current transition, while for the Last Inter-Glacial (LIG: 130 K years)–LGM transition an important range reduction occurred, which was larger for extinct North American species. In conclusion, the reduction of climatically suitable areas for many species in the transition LIG–LGM may have produced population reductions, which, in turn, may have played an important role in species’ extinction throughout the continent. View Show abstract ... Thus, an intriguing hypothesis remains to be tested: whether the genetic boundary merely reflects a contact zone between historically isolated populations that have subsequently expanded in range, or whether ongoing processes are contributing to their separation. Evidence from phylogeographical, phylogenetic, and ecological research suggests that both Pleistocene climate processes (glacial cycles) and current environmental conditions may contribute to creating and maintaining current genetic and spatial distribution patterns within the family Felidae (Mattern & McLennan, 2000;Reding et al., 2012). Remington (1968) suggested that the central Great Plains ecozone represents a region of secondary contact for many mammalian species that were isolated during the LGM and that possible aridification during the Pleistocene Epoch may have prevented dispersal until recently (Remington, 1968). ... Combining ecological niche modelling and morphology to assess the range-wide population genetic structure of bobcats ( Lynx rufus ) Article Full-text available Nov 2015 Biol J Linn Soc Allison Marcella Loveless Dawn M Reding Paul Glover-Kapfer Monica Papes Despite a broad distribution, general habitat requirements, and a large dispersal potential, bobcats (Lynx rufus) exhibit a genetic division that longitudinally transects central North America. We investigated (1) whether the climate of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; 21 kya) isolated bobcats into refugia and also whether the current climate influences gene flow between the segregate populations and (2) whether the geographical patterns in cranial morphology reflect population identity. We created ecological niche models (ENMs) to evaluate climatic suitability and to estimate distributions of the disparate populations under both historical (LGM) and contemporary conditions. We used two-dimensional geometric morphometric methods to evaluate variations in the cranium and mandible. These variations were then regressed across geographical variables to assess morphological differences throughout the range of the bobcat. ENMs projected onto LGM climate provided evidence of refugia during the LGM via increased suitability in the north-west and south-east portions of this species' range. Contemporarily, our models suggest that the Great Plains may be restricting bobcat migration and gene flow, effectively maintaining disparate populations. Morphological analyses identified a significant linear trend in shape variation across latitudinal and longitudinal gradients rather than distinct morphological divergence between lineages. Similar shape variations, however, did converge in approximate locations of assumed refugia. The findings of the present study provide a robust assessment of the biogeographical considerations for the population genetic structure of bobcats. View Show abstract ... The functional morphology of limb bones of many vertebrates dis- plays pattern associated to locomotion or modes of substrate explora- tion (e.g., Snyder, 1954Snyder, , 1962Jenkins, 1971;Taylor, 1978;Cartmill, 1985;Hildebrand, 1985a, Hildebrand, 1985bVassallo, 1998;Andersson, 2004;Ercoli, Prevrosti, & Alvarez, 2012;Ibrahim et al., 2014;Houssaye & Fish, 2016;Lee et al., 2016). For both, extant and fossil mammals, authors have tried to correlate limb morphology and func- tion, ontogeny or phylogeny (Jenkins, 1971;Gasc, Jouffroy, Renous, & Von Blottnitz, 1986;Mattern & McLennan, 2000;Andersson & Werdelin, 2003;Andersson, 2004;Plummer, Bishop, & Hertel, 2008;Samuels & Van Valkenburgh, 2008; Bassarova, Janis, & Archer, 2009; ... Functional morphology and paleoecology of Pilosa (Xenarthra, Mammalia) based on a two-dimensional geometric Morphometrics study of the Humerus Article Aug 2018 J Morphol Alessandro Oliveira Charles Morphy D. Santos The relationship between humerus shape and the modes of exploring substrate among extinct and extant Pilosa (especially anteaters and ground sloths) were investigated here. We used geometric morphometrics and discriminant analyses to relate morphological patterns and their possible ecological categories. Our results suggest that plesiomorphic taxa such as Nothrotheriidae, most Megalonychidae and basal Megatheriidae tend to have more slender humerus, associated to generalist habitus (climbing, swimming and digging activities), and while Mylodontidae developed specialized digging habitus. Additionally, we inferred ground sloths which inhabited the Brazilian territory during the Quaternary likely occupied at least four different niches. Mammals display morphofunctional adaptations on the limbs which are reflected on their modes of substrate exploration. Herein, we analyzed the humerus morphology of ground sloths and anteaters. Our results suggest that most of the Pleistocene Mylodonts were fossorial taxa, while most of the Santacrucian sloths plus extant anteaters were semiarboreal or semiaquatic taxa. The Pleistocene Megatheriidae should be ambulatory. View Show abstract ... Habitat preferences cannot thus have influenced the evolution of white spots on ears, but white spots may have contributed, at least partly, to the adaptation of felids to closed habitats. A similar contribution to the successful occupance of closed habitats by felids may have been provided by the presence of slit-like pupils in some species (Mattern and McLennan 2000;Werdelin et al. 2010). ... Correlated Evolution of White Spots on Ears and Closed Habitat Preferences in Felids Article Full-text available Sep 2020 J Mamm Evol Ismael Galván The pigmentation patterns of many carnivorous mammals comprise contrasting white patches of hair in different parts of the body whose evolution remains largely misunderstood. Some felids (Felidae) exhibit conspicuous white spots on the posterior part of the ears, while the ear color of others is uniform. On the basis that ear movement in felids has a role in intraspecific communication and that color contrast enhances detection, here it is hypothesized that white spots on ears may be particularly adaptive under conditions of poor visibility and thus be associated with the occupancy of closed habitats. This prediction was tested using phylogenetic logistic regression models with all species of extant felids. Results show a clear association between the occurrence of white spots on ears and preference for closed habitats, and this is independent of body size and whether species that occupy both closed and open habitats are considered as closed- or open-habitat specialists. Phylogenetic signal analyses indicate that the occurrence of white spots on ears is a highly conserved trait while habitat preferences are evolutionarily labile, suggesting that the presence of white spots may have partly contributed to the adaptation of felids to closed habitats. These findings indicate that some subtle pigment traits have fulfilled a significant role in determining the success of habitat occupancy by felids and possibly other mammals, which in turn has driven the evolutionary maintenance of such traits. View Show abstract ... 例如, 化石证据显示, 来自东非的最早的豹属化石, 地质年代属于更新世 (2MYA), 形态上类似于虎和狮, 暗示这两个物种具 有较近的亲缘关系. 但是, Neff [67] 和 Hemmer [68] [15] , Mattern 和 McLennan [72] 基于形态学、 细胞学以及许多 分子数据分析得出, 雪豹位于豹属系统关系分支的 基部; 最近基于化学信号 [14] 、线粒体控制区序列 [54] 和线粒体与核基因整合数据 [1] 分析又认为, 它与虎具 有最近的亲缘关系. 然而, Yu 和 Zhang [70] ... 豹属线粒体基因组分析 Article Sep 2011 孝兵 吴 立新 诸 磊 魏 志刚 蒋 View ... In the concept of total evidence (Kluge, 1989), all relevant character information is combined in a single phylogenetic analysis. The total evidence approach has been practised successfully in diverse organismal groups at various systematic levels (e. g., Eernisse and Kluge, 1993;Mattern and McLennan, 2000;overview in Chippindale and Wiens, 1994), including birds (e. g., Zink and Blackwell, 1996;Griffiths, 1999;Johnson and Sorensson, 1999). ... S27-5 Molecular modules and morphology Article Full-text available Dec 2006 Antonio Arnaiz-Villena Hans Leo Nemeschkal Renate Van den Elzen We present a phylogenetic perspective on morphological and molecular characters and character complexes and their properties at different hierarchical levels, using both examples from literature and case studies in carduelid finches and pigeons. Phylogenetic hypotheses inferred from both molecular (cytochrome-b) and morphological characters (plumage ornamentations), and combined analyses in carduelids, indicate that in both datasets corresponding patterns occur at particular nodes and systematic levels. A new method is introduced to partition and quantify correlation in cladogenetic, anagenetic and environmental signal, to estimate by their degree of similarity the underlying factors producing that correspondence. View Show abstract ... silvestris), the sand cat (F. margarita), and F. s. catus (Mattern and McLennan 2000). Hybridizing occurs between this species and F. s. catus (Tonkin 1972). ... Felis nigripes (Carnivora: Felidae) Article Full-text available Sep 2015 Aurélie Renard Maxime Lavoie Justin A. Pitt Serge Larivière Felis nigripes Burchell, 1824, commonly called the black-footed cat, is the smallest felid in Africa. F. nigripes is a pale tawny cat with dark markings and prominent horizontal stripes on the limbs. It is distributed in the central part of South Africa and mainly occurs in open country often near brush cover. F. nigripes is listed on Appendix I of the Convention for the International Trade of Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora and is listed as "Vulnerable" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. View Show abstract ... This varies depending on breed [12] . The average feral adult male weighs 4 kg (9 lb.), and the average adult female 3 kg (7 lb.) [13] . Cats average about 23-25cm (9-10 in.) in height and 46cm (18in.) in head/body length (males being larger than females), with tails averaging 30cm (12in.) in length. ... Diversity of cats in Quetta city Article Full-text available Jan 2020 Zaib-Un-Nisa Hanif Muhammad Kamran Taj Nosheen Rafiq Sakina Khan This study was conducted to determine the diversity of cats in Quetta city. All cats belonged to the family Felidae, genus Felis. These cats are considered only domesticated species in the family Felidae that's why often referred to as the "domestic cat" to distinguish it from wild members of the family. The study was carried out from March to December 2019 in Quetta city. During the study period, 1000 cats were documented randomly from Quetta city which resulted in the enumeration of different cats such as Mackerel Tabby cat, Classic Tabby cat, Ticked Tabby cat, Spotted Tabby cat, Persian cat, Bombay cat, Oriental short hair cat, Turkish van cat and Main coon cat, Calico cat and Tortoiseshell cat. Identification of cat was done on the basis of physical characteristics such as coat pattern, coat color and hair (fur) length. The most diverse and abundant cat was tabby cats, recorded 74.2% represented by observing four coat patterns. Mackerel tabby coat patterned cats were found 37.7% followed by Spotted tabby patterned cats 26%, Ticked tabby patterned cats were 6% and classic tabby pattrned cats were found 4.5%, While among various breeds of cats, the most dominant breed was persian cats (8.8%) followed by Bombay cat (4.8%), Turkish van cats (2.8%), Maine coon cats (1.2%) and least was observed Oriental short hair cats (1%) in the study area. While Calico cats were recorded 5.6% and Tortoiseshell or tortie cats were found 1.8%. View Show abstract ... Pampas cats are typical of open areas and show a broad elevational distribution from sea level up to 5000 m (Redford & Eisenberg, 1992;García-Perea, 1994;Nowak, 1999;Sunquist & Sunquist, 2002, 2009. Phylogenetic studies show that pampas cats are part of the group informally known as the 'ocelot lineage', which corresponds to small-and medium-sized Neotropical spotted cats of the genus Leopardus Gray, 1842 (Johnson et al., 1999(Johnson et al., , 2006Mattern & McLennan, 2000;Li et al., 2016;Kitchener et al., 2017). Pampas cats are closely related to the Andean mountain cat, Leopardus jacobita (Cornalia, with seven subspecies: Leopardus colocola colocola, Le. c. wolffsohni, Le. c. pajeros (including crucina), Le. c. budini (including steinbachi), Le. c. garleppi (including thomasi), Le. c. braccatus and Le. ... Taxonomic revision of the pampas cat Leopardus colocola complex (Carnivora: Felidae): an integrative approach Article Full-text available Feb 2021 ZOOL J LINN SOC-LOND Cheng Jilong Fabio Oliveira do Nascimento Anderson Feijó The pampas cat Leopardus colocola has been subject to conflicting classifications over the years. Currently, one polytypic species with seven subspecies is recognized, but integrative taxonomic study for this debated group has never been done. Here, we combine the broadest morphological coverage of the pampas cat to date with molecular data and ecological niche models to clarify its species composition and test the validity of recently proposed subspecies. The multiple lines of evidence derived from morphology, molecular, biogeography and climatic niche datasets converged on the recognition of five monotypic species: L. braccatus, L. colocola, L. garleppi (including thomasi, budini, steinbachi, crespoi and wolffsohni as synonyms), L. munoai and L. pajeros (including crucina as synonym). These five species are morphologically diagnosable based on skin and skull traits, have evolved in distinct climatic niche spaces and were recovered in molecular species delimitation. Contrary to previous taxonomic arrangements, we do not recognize subspecies in pampas cats. To objectively define the two most controversial species, we designate neotypes for L. colocola and L. pajeros. The diversification of pampas cats is associated with Middle Pleistocene glaciations, but additional genetic samples from the central Andean region are still needed to conclusively reconstruct its evolutionary history. View Show abstract ... We may determine how true surface area changes with body size by measuring hair spacing and geometry. We do so with 17 mammals (Wilcox, 1950;McManus, 1974;Jenkins and Busher, 1979;Estes, 1980;Willner et al., 1980;Olsen, 1983;Conley and Porter, 1986;Pass and Freeth, 1993;Koprowski, 1994;Lariviere and Walton, 1998;Pasitschniak-Arts and Marinelli, 1998;Sidorovich et al., 1999;Mattern and McLennan, 2000;Scott et al., 2001;Fish et al., 2002;Valencak et al., 2003;Spotorno et al., 2004;Fedosenko and Blank, 2005;Mecklenburg et al., 2009;Dickerson et al., 2012) and 10 insects (Carlson and Chi, 1974 and data from a range of online SEM images). These measurements yield scalings given in Table 2. ... Cleanliness is next to godliness: Mechanisms for staying clean Article Oct 2015 J EXP BIOL Guillermo J. Amador David L. Hu Getting dirty is a fundamental problem, and one for which there are few solutions, especially across the enormous range of animal size. How do both a honeybee and a squirrel get clean? In this Review, we discuss two broad types of cleaning, considered from the viewpoint of energetics. Non-renewable cleaning strategies rely upon the organism as an energy source. Examples include grooming motions, wet-dog shaking or the secretion of chemicals. Renewable cleaning strategies depend on environmental sources of energy, such as the use of eyelashes to redirect incoming wind and so reduce deposition onto the eye. Both strategies take advantage of body hair to facilitate cleaning, and honeybees and squirrels, for example, each have around 3 million hairs. This hair mat increases the area on which particles can land by a factor of 100, but also suspends particles above the body, reducing their adhesion and facilitating removal. We hope that the strategies outlined here will inspire energy-efficient cleaning strategies in synthetic systems. View Show abstract ... His studies are often used in current total-evidence phylogenetic analyses as sources of data in attempts to detect phylogenetic relationships and conflicts among data partitions for particular taxa, and are also used to reconstruct the evolution of particular morphological characters (e.g. Salles 1992, Mattern and McLennan 2000, Vrba and Schaller 2000, Zrzavý and Řičánková 2004, Goswami and Friscia 2010. Additionally, his studies provide a source of diagnostic characters of recognized groups or species (e.g. ... On the shoulders of giants: Reginald Innes Pocock and integrative mammal research in museums and zoos Article Full-text available Feb 2018 MAMMALIA Gippoliti Spartaco Tommaso De Francesco Jan Robovský Seventy years after his death, Reginald Innes Pocock’s prominence in mammalogy is demonstrated by the continuing amount of citations in recent works and the final acceptance of some of his systematic proposals at generic and suprageneric levels. Pocock’s ability to synthesize and integrate classical taxonomy with the then dominant polytypic species concept, utilizing both skull and external characters, of zoo and museum animals as unique opportunities for the advancement of mammal comparative biology – including the study of several extinct taxa – are an enduring legacy for mammalogy that deserves to be better appreciated especially among European zoologists. View Show abstract Behavior of Single Cats and Groups in the Home Article Dec 2006 Penny L. Bernstein View Checklist of South Asian Mammals Chapter Apr 2012 Chelmala Srinivasulu Bhargavi Srinivasulu The checklist includes enumeration of all the living and recently extinct species known to occur or have occurred in South Asia. Taxonomic arrangement is following Wilson and Reeder (2005) and comments are added at appropriate places where deviations were incorporated following works published after 2005. Necessary taxonomic comments have been provided at order, family, genus, and species levels. Wherever necessary, additional classification levels have been included. The checklist is based on the best of our knowledge on mammalian species diversity as on 31.12.2011. Any omissions are purely unintentional. View Show abstract Comportement et phylogénie des cervidae Book Full-text available Jan 2010 Pierre Deleporte Jean Joachim David Reby Henri Cap View Snow leopards: Conflict and conservation Article Full-text available Jan 2010 Rodney Jackson Charudutt Mishra T.M. McCarthy Som Ale View Behavior and Evolution: Crossed Glances Article Oct 2015 Henri Cap Ethology was founded successively by the naturalist, psychological and neurophysiological trends. After the classic opposition between the environmentalist and the objectivist view on behavior, and then the constructivist currents of the naturalist ethology, a fi rst synthesis was proposed by Tinberghen’s four questions, integrating several scientifi c disciplines, and including the evolutionary question of ultimate causalities. In order to analyse what the theory of evolution brought to ethology and conversely, we collected and commented the opinions of several ethologists of different currents, in the context of the naturalist thought in ethology and the recent development of phylogenetics. Compared to the other data, the use of behavior in systematics raised some methodological problems concerning its ephemeral nature, the supposed diffi culty to identify homology and the pretended lack of reliability of behavioral data compared to morphological and molecular ones. As a matter of fact, behavioral characters mapped on a tree or integrated into the phylogenetic data matrix have great potential, even though they remain controversial in systematics. As a source of heritable characters for phylogeny inference, behavior embodies both a product of evolution and one of the evolutionary factors. Hence behavioral studies can bring complementary explanations to evolutionary processes of speciation involving behavioral factors. A further and promising interest of the combined study of behavior and evolution concerns the epigenetic perspective of the infl uence of behavior on the rate of DNA methylation, which confi rms that numerous behavioral adaptations appear before corresponding genetic modifi cations or mutations. View Show abstract Felids and Hyenas of the World: Wildcats, Panthers, Lynx, Pumas, Ocelots, Caracals, and Relatives Book Sep 2020 Jose R Castelló Alexander Sliwa Andrew C Kitchener View Early-Onset Progressive Retinal Atrophy Associated with an IQCB1 Variant in African Black-Footed Cats (Felis nigripes) Article Full-text available Mar 2017 Annie Oh Jacqueline W Pearce Barbara Gandolfi Lives Consortium African black-footed cats (Felis nigripes) are endangered wild felids. One male and full-sibling female African black-footed cat developed vision deficits and mydriasis as early as 3 months of age. The diagnosis of early-onset progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) was supported by reduced direct and consensual pupillary light reflexes, phenotypic presence of retinal degeneration, and a non-recordable electroretinogram with negligible amplitudes in both eyes. Whole genome sequencing, conducted on two unaffected parents and one affected offspring was compared to a variant database from 51 domestic cats and a Pallas cat, revealed 50 candidate variants that segregated concordantly with the PRA phenotype. Testing in additional affected cats confirmed that cats homozygous for a 2 base pair (bp) deletion within IQ calmodulin-binding motif-containing protein-1 (IQCB1), the gene that encodes for nephrocystin-5 (NPHP5), had vision loss. The variant segregated concordantly in other related individuals within the pedigree supporting the identification of a recessively inherited early-onset feline PRA. Analysis of the black-footed cat studbook suggests additional captive cats are at risk. Genetic testing for IQCB1 and avoidance of matings between carriers should be added to the species survival plan for captive management. View Show abstract Reproductive Biology and a Genome Resource Bank of Felidae Article Full-text available Mar 2017 Russ J Dev Biol Serge Amstislavsky Valeria Kozhevnikova V. V. Muzika Elena Kizilova The main achievements in applying modern reproductive technologies to the banking of the genetic resources of the Felidae family are reviewed. The classification of felids at the level of species and subspecies is revised in the light of recent molecular data. Special emphasis is made on such mainstream technologies as semen collection and cryopreservation followed by artificial insemination, as well as on in vitro maturation and fertilization of oocytes combined with the culture of in vitro-derived felid embryos. View Show abstract Análisis Filogenéticos Cuantitativos en el siglo XXI Article Full-text available Dec 2007 REV MEX BIODIVERS Daniel R Brooks Jaret Bilewitch Charmaine Condy David T. Zanatta We review Hennigian phylogenetics and compare it with Maximum parsimony, Maximum likelihood, and Bayesian likelihood approaches. All methods use the principle of parsimony in some form. Hennigian-based approaches are justified ontologically by the Darwinian concepts of phylogenetic conservatism and cohesion of homologies, embodied in Hennig's Auxiliary Principle, and applied by outgroup comparisons. Parsimony is used as an epistemological tool, applied a posteriori to choose the most robust hypothesis when there are conflicting data. Quantitative methods use parsimony as an ontological criterion: Maximum parsimony analysis uses unweighted parsimony, Maximum likelihood weight all characters equally that explain the data, and Bayesian likelihood relying on weighting each character partition that explains the data. Different results most often stem from insufficient data, in which case each quantitative method treats ambiguities differently. All quantitative methods produce networks. The networks can be converted into trees by rooting them. If the rooting is done in accordance with Hennig's Auxiliary Principle, using outgroup comparisons, the resulting tree can then be interpreted as a phylogenetic hypothesis. As the size of the data set increases, likelihood methods select models that allow an increasingly greater number of a priori possibilities, converging on the Hennigian perspective that nothing is prohibited a priori. Thus, all methods produce similar results, regardless of data type, especially when their networks are rooted using outgroups. Appeals to Popperian philosophy cannot justify any kind of phylogenetic analysis, because they argue from effect to cause rather than from cause to effect. Nor can particular methods be justified on the basis of statistical consistency, because all may be consistent or inconsistent depending on the data. If analyses using different types of data and/or different methods of phylogeny reconstruction do not produce the same results, more data are needed. View Show abstract Taxonomic revision of The tigrina Leopardus tigrinus (Schreber, 1775) species group (Carnivora, Felidae) Article Full-text available Jun 2017 Fabio Oliveira do Nascimento Anderson Feijó The tigrina Leopardus tigrinus (Schreber, 1775) is a small-sized Neotropical spotted cat found from northern Argentina and southern Brazil to Costa Rica. Four subspecies are traditionally recognized: L. t. tigrinus (Schreber, 1775) from northern Brazil, the Guianas and eastern Venezuela; L. t. pardinoides (Gray, 1867) from western Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru; L. t. guttulus (Hensel, 1872) from southern Brazil, Paraguay and northern Argentina; and L. t. oncillus (Thomas, 1903) from Costa Rica. We studied external and craniodental morphology in quantitative and qualitative terms from 250 specimens in order to clarify the taxonomic status of tigrina. Based on the characters analyzed in this study, we recognize three diagnosable morphogroups, each with a distinct geographic distribution: northern/northwest-ern/west (samples from northern Brazil, the Guianas, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, northwestern Argentina and Costa Rica), eastern (samples from northeastern and central Bra-zil), and southern (samples from southern Brazil, Paraguay and northeastern Argentina). Taking into account the morphologic evidence presented here, supported by biogeographic data and molecular studies available, we recognize three full species for tigrinas: L. tigrinus (including the putative subspecies L. t. pardinoides and L. t. oncillus as junior synonyms) for northern/ northwestern/west group; L. emiliae (Thomas, 1914) for eastern group; and L. guttulus for southern group. View Show abstract Functional and Systematic Implications of the Postcranial Anatomy of a Late Miocene Feline (Carnivora, Felidae) from Batallones-1 (Madrid, Spain) Article Full-text available Mar 2019 J Mamm Evol Manuel J. Salesa Gema Siliceo Mauricio Anton Jorge Morales The Spanish late Miocene locality of Batallones-1 yielded a rich sample of large carnivorans, including saber-toothed felids, amphicyonids, and ailurids, but also of smaller species, with the small cats being especially interesting. Two species are known from Batallones-1, one of them the size of a wildcat, Felis silvestris, the other one the size of a caracal, Caracal caracal. The former is represented by skulls, mandibles, and postcranial bones, whereas the latter is known from a collection of long bones. Both species are less abundant than their larger relatives, the saber-toothed felids Promegantereon ogygia and Machairodus aphanistus, but the available sample allows us to assess body proportions and adaptations of the smallest species, and to propose a new genus for this feline, Leptofelis vallesiensis. Its limb bones are remarkably gracile compared to fossils of the earlier genera Pseudaelurus, Miopanthera, and Styriofelis, and comparable in cursorial adaptations to the wildcat, very different from extant arboreal cats. While middle Miocene felids were likely semi-arboreal forest dwellers, L. vallesiensis would be mostly terrestrial, climbing essentially for protection. This indicates an adaptation to a mosaic of habitats, including relatively open terrain, and may be related to the climatic changes detected in Eurasia during the late Miocene. View Show abstract Does the marbled cat exist in Nepal? Article Full-text available Nov 2017 Sagar Dahal The marbled cat Pardofelis marmorata is an elusive small cat on which few specific studies were conducted. This article reviews the literature on distribution records of marbled cat to assess the likelihood of its current existence in Nepal. Beside a single record from the early 1980s, there are no recent records to prove the existence of the marbled cat in Nepal. However, the Government of Nepal and the distribution map of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species assume that the marbled cat is extant in Nepal. To support the Government’s official statement on marbled cat presence in the country and to validate the IUCN distribution map for Nepal, a marbled cat targeted camera trap survey in potential habitats is urgently needed. View Show abstract Temporal changes in prey composition and biomass delivery to African Crowned Eagle nestlings in urban areas of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Article May 2018 OSTRICH Tim van der Meer Shane McPherson Colleen T Downs Globally urban areas are expanding rapidly and this usually has negative effects on biodiversity. Despite this, some species manage to persist in urban areas, as is the case with African Crowned Eagles Stephanoaetus coronatus in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. As relatively little is known about African Crowned Eagle nestling diet, especially about how it changes with nestling age, we investigated this with nest camera-traps. We analysed temporal changes in prey composition and biomass delivery during the nestling stage. We also recorded which adults provisioned and attended the nest. The main prey fed to nestlings were Rock Hyrax Procavia capensis and Hadeda Ibis Bostrychia hagedash. Adult males did most of the food provisioning, especially at the start of the nestling period. We found a decrease in total prey number and biomass with nestling age. This may be caused by changing requirements of nestlings. Furthermore, delivering fewer prey at later nestling stages may be a facilitating mechanism to enhance fledging of the nestling. Although the total number of prey brought to the nest decreased, we found an increase in numbers of Vervet Monkey Chlorocebus pygerythrus in the diet with nestling age. This indicated an increase in larger prey being delivered to the nests as the nestling aged. We suggest that this could be caused by increased participation in hunting by the larger female as her nest attendance time decreased as the nestling aged. We conclude with emphasising the importance of protecting the Durban Metropolitan Open Space System (D’MOSS) zones for the persistence of this Near Threatened raptor species, and populations of its prey in urban areas for its breeding success. View Show abstract Sperm cryopreservation in the Far-Eastern wildcat ( Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus ) Article Full-text available Jul 2018 REPROD DOMEST ANIM E. Yu. Brusentsev Elena Kizilova Sergey Naidenko Serge Amstislavsky The Far‐Eastern wildcat (Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus) is a rare and poorly investigated nondomestic felid species. An attempt of freezing and cryopreserving Far‐Eastern wildcat spermatozoa in CaniPlus Freeze (CPF) medium is reported. Sperm was collected by electroejaculation from five adult Far‐Eastern wildcat captive‐born males. Epididymal spermatozoa from five adult randomly bred domestic cat males were used as a reference. The viability of frozen–thawed spermatozoa evaluated by double staining with SYBR Green I and PI followed by the subsequent confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was 38.2% ± 3.0% for the domestic cat and 38.0% ± 10.2% for the Far‐Eastern wildcat. The motility of frozen–thawed spermatozoa was 30.8% ± 9.8% for the domestic cat and 33.7% ± 15.1% for the Far‐Eastern wildcat. Sperm morphology was assessed by light microscopy. The total percentage of normal spermatozoa after freezing and thawing was 51.9 ± 5.9 for the domestic cat and 55.0% ± 6.4% for the Far‐Eastern wildcat. Defects of flagella were the most frequently observed abnormalities in both species (32.2% ± 4.8% and 30.8% ± 4.4% of all reported anomalies for the domestic cat and Far‐Eastern wildcat, respectively). Domestic cat epididymal and Far‐Eastern ejaculatory spermatozoa fertilized in vitro‐matured oocytes of the domestic cat (30.0% ± 5.5% and 35.5% ± 15.0%, respectively). Taken together, these results suggest that the freezing of Far‐Eastern wildcat spermatozoa with CPF medium is a suitable method for Felidae cryopreservation. View Show abstract New evidence for the emergence of the human-pet relation in early Roman Berenike (1st–2nd century AD) Article Full-text available Jul 2018 Marta Osypinska Osypinski Piotr Animals were as inextricable a part as they were indicative of the system of common ancient Egyptian beliefs. Their special role was manifested in a rich iconography and in multitudes of animal mummies deposited in the major sacral complexes. Seen in this light, the cemetery of small animals of 1st–2nd century AD date, excavated since 2011 in the Red Sea port town of Berenike, comes across as entirely unique, notwithstanding the spiritual aspects of cats, dogs and monkeys. Contrary to Egyptian animal burials of all periods associated with human ones, the Berenike inhumations were not intended as afterlife companions of their last owners; neither were they ever mummified. Recent results of research present the variety of species kept in the households and insight into their behaviour. Pathological changes on one of the dog skeletons suggest a deadly condition, that is, osteosarcoma. The Berenike data also shed new light on the distribution of the cat beyond Egypt and a rising preference for keeping the animal as a pet in Europe and the Middle East. View Show abstract Spermatozoa cryopreservation in small feline species Article Full-text available Dec 2018 CRYOBIOLOGY Valentina Mokrousova Konstantin A Okotrub Serge Amstislavsky E. Yu. Brusentsev The aim of this study was to compare different methods of feline semen freezing using domestic cat as a model species and to apply these methods for the purposes of Far-Eastern wildcat (Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus) biodiversity conservation. Two different commercially available freezing media, i.e. CaniPlus Freeze (CPF) (Minitube, Germany) and Sperm Freeze (SF) (Ferti Pro, Belgium) were tested for epididymal domestic cat spermatozoa freezing. The use of a commercial product has the advantage to be standardized and easy to perform in field conditions. The viability of domestic cat epididymal spermatozoa evaluated by the VitalScreen test was 68.7 ± 3.0% for nonfrozen group; 51.2 ± 6.3% for CPF group and 54.4 ± 3.1% for SF group. In vitro fertilization (IVF) of domestic cat oocytes with nonfrozen and frozen-thawed spermatozoa produced developing embryos. The same freezing method based on CPF freezing medium was applied to Far-Eastern wildcat ejaculatory spermatozoa at the Experimental Station of A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution (near Moscow) where this species is bred in captivity. The frozen spermatozoa were transported to Novosibirsk and analysed. The viability of Far-Eastern cat frozen-thawed spermatozoa was 36.7 ± 6.5%. These spermatozoa fertilized in vitro matured oocytes of the domestic cat and 35.5 ± 15.0% heterologous embryos developed successfully. The cell number per embryo was 26.9 ± 5.1 on the 5th day of the in vitro culturing. The results of this study demonstrated the applicability of CPF-based semen freezing method for conservation of rare felid species. View Show abstract ETHOLOGY AND BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS OF THE CAT Thesis Full-text available May 2019 Marine Parker Biological rhythms are of importance for living organisms as they help to schedule most behavioural processes within the most suitable temporal window. Literature on daily rhythmicity is scarce and conflicting regarding domestic cats. To sharpen our knowledge on the subject, we used advanced telemetry technologies to record and characterise the daily rhythms of locomotor activity and feeding in cats according to the seasons and housing conditions. The cats were sensitive to photoperiod and to human presence. Along 24-hour periodicity, they displayed bimodality in their daily patterns, with mid-day and mid-night troughs of locomotor activity and food consumption. The two main activity/eating periods corresponded to dawn and dusk at each season, regardless of the twilight timings, confirming the crepuscular intrinsic nature of the species. The feeding rhythm of the cats was more variable daily than their locomotor activity rhythm, recalling the opportunistic character of this predator. Cats displayed plasticity in their behaviour, such as weaker daily rhythms and more nocturnal exploratory behaviour outdoors, compared to indoors where they were more prone to routine. Our results open new avenues for developing nutritional and housing guidelines fitted to the rhythms of the cats according to their way of life. View Show abstract Carnivoran Dietary Adaptations: A Multiproxy Study on the Feeding Ecology of the Fossil Carnivorans of Greece Thesis Nov 2019 Nikolaos Kargopoulos This Thesis deals with the palaeoecology of the fossil carnivorans of Greece and, in particular, with their diet. Carnivora don’t eat exclusively meat, but they frequently are omnivores, insectivores or even herbivores. In this study extant Carnivora were divided into 12 dietary categories. The studied fossil material belongs to 47 species from 8 families, coming from two periods of geological time: the Late Miocene (11.6-5.3 Mya) and the Villafranchian (3.5.-0.8 Mya). These periods include some of the richest fossiliferous localities in Greece, providing enough material to apply the necessary methods. To test the made assumptions, a comparative sample of 75 species belonging to 13 families of extant carnivorans was used. The main focus of this work is to calculate a number of proxies which are connected to the diet of these species. The proxies studied here were: bite force, upper canines’ and incisors’ bending strength, endocranial volume, relative rostrum width, mastoid musculature, dental mesowear, dental carnassial and grinding surfaces, dental intercuspid notches and dental morphology in general. All these parameters are combined, in order to extract a more accurate result. The first chapter of the results concerns the diets of some enigmatic species. Indarctos atticus resulted to be an omnivore, based mostly on plant material. Ursus etruscus, Ursavus ehrenbergi and Ursavus depereti were found being opportunistic omnivores. Simocyon primigenius resulted being probably a scavenger, but also a predator of small-medium sized mammals and probably completed its diet with a small amount of plants. A similar niche, without the ability of bone-cracking, is proposed for Plesiogulo crassa. Baranogale helbingi resulted to be a meat-based omnivore, similar to extant martens. The second chapter of the results deals with the coexistence of species that seem to have a similar ecology. The first part were the Crocuta-like hyenas of the Turolian (Adcrocuta eximia, Lycyaena chaeretis and Belbus beaumonti). It was found that Adcrocuta is so dominant over the other species because it was larger, more robust, better adapted to bone-cracking and probably social, resulting to lower abundances for the other two genera. The next case were the ictitheres of Late Miocene (Plioviverrops orbignyi, Protictitherium crassum, Ictitherium viverrinum and Hyaenotherium wongii). The first two genera were found to be opportunistic insectivores-omnivores. However the other two genera seem to have a similar ecological niche, with Hyaenotherium being more carnivorous and Ictitherium being more opportunistic. This niche overlapping is probably the cause for their distinct biogeography, with Ictitherium thriving in Pikermi and Hyaenotherium in Samos. The third case of coexistence was the felids of Pikermi (Pristifelis attica, Metailurus parvulus, Metailurus major, Paramachairodus orientalis and Amphimachairodus giganteus). These species were able to coexist, because they did not have the same body size. Therefore, their prey also had a relevant body size. The only species of the same size were Paramachairodus and Metailurus major, which represent two different evolutionary stages of sabertooths. Thus, these two taxa must have been competitive with each other and maybe that’s the reason for their infrequency. Another part was the small-sized mustelids of Turolian (Martes woodwardi, Promeles palaeattica, Promephitis lartetii, Parataxidea maraghana, Sinictis pentelici and a new species of mustelid). These species seemed to cover similar niches and having similar body sizes, with the exception of the smaller Promephitis. Probably this is the reason for their low abundance and the distinct biogeography of Promeles and Parataxidea (present in Pikermi and Samos respectively). The fifth case was the coexistence of the sabertooths Homotherium and Megantereon in the Villafranchian. It seems that this coexistence was possible due to the size difference between the two taxa and because of their different hunting strategies, since Homotherium was more cursorial and probably didn’t make an instant canine-shear bite as Megantereon. A similar case can be seen with Chasmaporthetes lunensis and Pliohyaena perrieri, with the former being a social and cursorial hunter and the latter being a solitary scavenger. The last case of coexistence were the canids of Apollonia (Vulpes praeglacialis, Lycaon lycaonoides, Canis arnensis, Canis etruscus and Canis apolloniensis). Vulpes praeglacialis occupied a niche similar to extant foxes and Lycaon similar to extant wolves. The other three canids probably represent a gradual transition from a form similar to jackal (Canis arnensis) to a form similar to a small wolf (Canis etruscus) with Canis apolloniensis being the intermediate stage. This coexistence of three species of canids probably led to interspecific competition between them. The third chapter of results dealt with the temporal alternation (or no alternation) of some phylogenetic lines. The first case was the transition Promeles palaeattica - Meles dimitrius - Meles meles. This lineage seems to adapt to a more plant-based diet and an increase in size. The second line was that of Nyctereutes: N. donnezani - N. megamastoides - N. procyonoides. This line also moved to a more plant-based omnivory, but this time the body size of the species was reduced. The next two cases dealt with two lineages that had similar representatives in the fossil record of Greece from the Miocene until the Late Pleistocene. The first lineage was that of Crocuta-like bone-crushing hyenas: Dinocrocuta - Adcrocuta - Pliohyaena - Pachycrocuta - Crocuta and the second was that of large felids Amphimachairodus / Paramachairodus / Metailurus major - Homotherium / Megantereon / Panthera gombaszoegensis - Panthera leo / pardus. Finally, the dietary category for every species was defined in a table and a suggestion for its possible prey genera (based on its already known associated faunas) was made, accompanied with the reference of a modern analogue species. View Show abstract Large Felid Predators and “Man-Eaters”: Can We Successfully Balance Conservation of Endangered Apex Predators with the Safety and Needs of Rapidly Expanding Human Populations? Chapter May 2020 Suzanne Shepherd The large felid carnivores are among the most endangered, and the most challenging, species to conserve on this increasingly human-dominated planet. In modern times, large felid carnivores were widely distributed in the continents of Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Unfortunately, global human expansion, loss of prey species, hunting and poaching, and retaliatory killings after livestock predation have greatly reduced and fragmented their original ranges and decimated their populations. In this chapter, large felid carnivore characteristics, usual habitats, ecology, and predatory behaviors are reviewed. Changes in great cat distribution, changes in wild prey populations resulting in a shift to increased livestock predation, and the resulting human-felid conflicts are discussed. Preservation of remaining wild large felid carnivore populations has become a global conservation priority as populations have plummeted over the last century. Current approaches to better understand and conserve these apex keystone predators and to maintain ecosystem integrity are discussed. Current strategies and policies to ameliorate and resolve the intricate and difficult problems of predator-human conflict are examined. The complex issues of “problem carnivores” and “man-eaters” are discussed. Finally, recommendations on creative, fluid, and scientifically sound strategies that might be employed to address these conflicts in a manner acceptable to all key stakeholders are discussed. View Show abstract The Pleistocene Jaguar Corridor Chapter Jan 2014 Dr. Alan Rabinowitz F eeling much older than my 42 years, I sank to my knees in snow as we crossed a gully and climbed towards the top of the plateau. Gasping for breath, I forced myself to speed up just so I could move one step ahead of the man beside me, Russia’s premier living tiger expert, Dimitri Pikinov. Dimitri grunted, lengthened his stride, and moved ahead of me again, never taking his eyes off the ground while he scanned intently for the telltale tracks or sign of the animal we were there to find. I smiled to myself, pleased I had at least elicited a grunt, then planned my next attack when we hit a downhill slope. It was a game that both of us played, while pretending we were not. Though I had no expectation of outpacing Dimitri on his home turf and in sub-zero weather, the physical challenge and the competition with a man I respected was exhilarating. I was giving him a run for his money, of that I was sure. The voices drifting downwind from behind us were our fellow cat experts, Drs. Howard Quigley and Dale Miquelle, who were quietly amused at this test of wills between Dimitri and myself that started with our first meeting in Vladivostok and had continued into the wintry cold of the Russian Far East. It was primal. Two middle-aged, type-A personalities, pounding their chests. View Show abstract A revised taxonomy of the Felidae. The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group Article Full-text available Jan 2017 Andrew C Kitchener Christine Breitenmoser Eduardo Eizirik Shanan S. Tobe 1. The current classification of the Felidae was reviewed by a panel of 22 experts divided into core, expert and review groups, which make up the Cat Classification Task Force CCTF of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group. 2. The principal aim of the CCTF was to produce a consensus on a revised classification of the Felidae for use by the IUCN. 3. Based on current published research, the CCTF has fully revised the classification of the Felidae at the level of genus, species and subspecies. 4. A novel traffic-light system was developed to indicate certainty of each taxon based on morphological, molecular, biogeographical and other evidence. A concordance of good evidence in the three principal categories was required to strongly support the acceptance of a taxon. 5. Where disagreements exist among members of the CCTF, these have been highlighted in the accounts for each species. Only further research will be able to answer the potential conflicts in existing data. 6. A total of 14 genera, 41 species and 77 subspecies is recognised by most members of the CCTF, which is a considerable change from the classification proposed by Wozencraft (2005), the last major revision of the Felidae. 7. Future areas of taxonomic research have been highlighted in order to answer current areas of uncertainty. 8. This classification of the Felidae will be reviewed every five years unless a major new piece of research requires a more rapid revision for the conservation benefit of felid species at risk of extinction. View Show abstract Show more What do we really know about speciation? Article Full-text available Jan 1982 Guy L. Bush View The Plio-Pleistocene Cheetah-like cat Miracinonyx inexpectatus of North America Article Full-text available Dec 1990 J Vertebr Paleontol Blaire Van Valkenburgh Frederick Grady Björn Kurtén The taxonomy of the North American cheetah-like cats is unresolved as they have been assigned at different times to Felis, Puma, or Acinonyx. A recently discovered, nearly complete skeleton of a large, slender-limbed cat of Irvingtonian age from West Virginia prompted this study of their relationships. We describe the new specimen and compare it with the living puma (Puma concolor) and cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) as well as with the extinct Old World cheetah (A. pardinensis) and New World cheetah-like cats most recently assigned to Acinonyx trumani and A. studeri. The new specimen appears to be a member of the earlier of the two North American species, previously known as A. studeri, here called Miracinonyx inexpectatus based on the priority of Cope's (1895) name. A cladistic analysis suggests that the New and Old World forms are distinct at the generic level and we remove the North American taxa from Acinonyx and place them in the genus Miracinonyx. The two genera are distinguished by a minimum of ten features of the skull and postcranial skeleton. Miracinonyx differs from Puma primarily in limb proportions, slenderness of the long bones, and aspects of the nasomaxillary region of the skull. A review of the fossil record suggests that the extinction of M. inexpectatus preceded the appearance of both the cursorial M. trumani and the shorter-limbed Puma concolor. Thus, M. inexpectatus could have given rise to both of these taxa in the middle Pleistocene. View Show abstract Systematics of Mustelid-Like Carnivores Article Full-text available May 1997 J Mammal J.W. Dragoo Rodney L Honeycutt The phylogenetic relationships of the skunks to the Mustelidae and other caniform carnivores were examined using mitochondrial-DNA (mtDNA) sequence data from portions of the 12S and 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. Data were combined with partial sequences of the cytochrome b gene and morphological data obtained from the literature, and used in a total-evidence analysis. The Mustelidae represented a paraphyletic group, with the skunks (Conepatus, Mephitis, and Spilogale) and the Oriental stink badger (Mydaus) forming a monophyletic clade separate from a clade containing the rest of the Mustelidae and the monophyletic Procyonidae. Within the Mustelidae, minus the skunks and stink badger, only one currently recognized subfamily, the Lutrinae, represented a monophyletic group. The families Phocidae, Otariidae, and Odobenidae formed a monophyletic group that was the sister group to the clade composed of the skunks, procyonids, and mustelids. The families Ursidae and Canidae occurred at the base of the Caniformia clade. It is proposed that the skunks be elevated to the level of family and be referred to as the Mephitidae. The family Mephitidae includes the genera Mephitis (striped and hooded skunks), Conepatus (hog-nosed skunks), Spilogale (spotted skunks), and Mydaus (Oriental stink badgers). View Show abstract Integrating Phylogenetic and Experimental Analyses: The Evolution of Male and Female Nuptial Coloration in the Stickleback Fishes (Gasterosteidae) Article Full-text available Sep 1996 SYST BIOL Deborah A. Mclennan Both male and female gasterosteid fishes display nuptial coloration. Male nuptial coloration originated in the ancestor of the Pungitius + Culaea + Gasterosteus clade. Patterns of origin and diversification of characters involved in male-male, male-female, and parental interactions indicate that the evolution of male color was influenced by intersexual selection, natural selection during parental care, and intrasexual selection, in decreasing order of importance. This macroevolutionary hypothesis was corroborated by examining changes in male color across the breeding cycle for two stickleback species, Gasterosteus aculeatus and Culaea inconstans. Female nuptial coloration may have originated before the male signal. The phylogenetic diversification of the male and female signals are decoupled, suggesting that they have been subject to different selection pressures throughout their evolutionary histories. Macroevolutionary patterns and experimental studies indicate that color signal evolution has been more complex in this group of fishes than was previously thought. View Show abstract Methods for Computing Wagner Trees Article Full-text available Mar 1970 Syst Zool James Farris Farris, J. S. (Biol. Set., State Univ., Stony Brook, N.Y.) 1970. Methods for computing Wagner Trees. Syst. Zool., 19:83-92.—The article derives some properties of Wagner Trees and Networks and describes computational procedures for Prim Networks, the Wagner Method, Rootless Wagner Method and optimization of hypothetical intermediates (HTUs). View Show abstract The role of phylogeny and behavioral competition in the evolution of coexistence among primates Article Full-text available Feb 2011 Can J Zool Alain Houle No analysis of coexistence among primates has ever considered phylogenetic distances and behavioral competition. The present model proposes that high levels of behavioral competition strongly incite divergence of the respective positions of sympatric species in niches, especially when these species are closely related. This divergence is then reflected in the morphologies of coexisting species (individuals exploit new dimensions of niches and their associated morphologies are selected for) and consequently in their phylogenetic distances. Sister species (defined here as those from the same subgenus or same species group) are phylogenetically closer than kin species (of the same genus but different subgenera or species groups). Accordingly, if a minimum phylogenetic distance is a condition of stable coexistence, then kin (and higher ranking) species, but not sister species, are expected to coexist in ecological communities. Moreover, the intensity of behavioral competition among coexisting species should be inversely proportional to phylogenetic distance. (Taxa are said to have high levels of behavioral competition if they display high rates of aggressive behaviors and simultaneous low rates of grooming behaviors.) To test these hypotheses, 41 ecological communities were reviewed. The conclusions are that (i) primate sister species do coexist, but very exceptionally compared with kin species (Wilcoxon's signed ranks test, p < 0.0001), suggesting that coexistence is possible provided a minimum phylogenetic distance is respected; (ii) there is a negative relationship between taxonomic distance and the rate of aggression among sympatric primates (p = 0.04) and a positive relationship between this distance and the rate of interspecific grooming behaviors (p = 0.028), supporting the hypothesis that stable coexistence is possible if sympatric species reduce and maintain low levels of behavioral competition. View Show abstract The Importance of Recent Ice Ages in Speciation: A Failed Paradigm Article Full-text available Sep 1997 Science John Klicka Robert Zink Late Pleistocene glaciations have been ascribed a dominant role in sculpting present-day diversity and distributions of North American vertebrates. Molecular comparisons of recently diverged sister species now permit a test of this assertion. The Late Pleistocene Origins model predicts a mitochondrial DNA divergence value of less than 0.5 percent for avian sister species of Late Pleistocene origin. Instead, the average mitochondrial DNA sequence divergence for 35 such songbird species pairs is 5.1 percent, which exceeds the predicted value by a factor of 10. Molecular data suggest a relatively protracted history of speciation events among North American songbirds over the past 5 million years. View Show abstract Phylogeographic Subspecies Recognition in Leopards (Panthera pardus): Molecular Genetic Variation Article Full-text available Aug 1996 Conservat Biol Sriyanie Miththapala John Seidensticker Stephen J. O'Brien The incorporation of precise definitions for taxonomic units into wildlife legislation has necessitated the reevaluation of the taxonomy of endangered and threatened species. We used the subspecies recognition criteria proposed by Avise and Ball (1990) and O’Brien and Mayr (1991) to examine the infraspecific taxonomy of the leopard, Panthera pardus, a geographically widespread species with 27 currently recognized trinomial designations. Samples from named subspecies revealed appreciable genetic diversity using three molecular methods: allozymes, mitochondrial DNA restriction sites, and feline-specific minisatellites. Continental populations and subspecies from Africa and Asia possessed the highest amount of molecular genetic variation, whereas relatively lower amounts of diversity were present in island populations. Molecular data were analyzed using three phylogenetic methods (distance-matrix, maximum parsimony, and maximum likelihood) to resolve genetic differentiation below the species level The combined results revealed phylogenetic distinction of six geographically isolated groups of leopards: (1) African, (2) central Asian, (3) Indian, (4) Sri Lankan, (5) Javan, and (6) east Asian. Based on the combined molecular analyses and supporting morphological data (Miththapala 1992), u,e recommend that subspecific leopard taxonomy be revised to comprise eight subspecies: (1) P. p. pardus, Africa; (2) P. p. saxicolor, central Asia; (3) P. p. fusca, Indian subcontinent; (4) P. p. kotiya, Sri Lanka; (5) P. p. melas, Java; (6) P. p. orientalis, Amur; (7) P. p. japonensis, northern China; and (8) P. p. delacouri, southern China. In most cases, designated subspecies conform to historic geological barriers that would have facilitated allopatric genetic divergence. View Show abstract BODY SIZE, NATURAL SELECTION, AND SPECIATION IN STICKLEBACKS Article Feb 1998 Evolution Laura Nagel Dolph Schluter There is little evidence from nature that divergent natural selection is crucial to speciation. However, divergent selection is implicated if traits conferring adaptation to alternative environments also form the basis of reproductive isolation. We tested the importance of body size differences to premating isolation between two sympatric sticklebacks. The species differ greatly in size, and several lines of evidence indicate that this difference is an adaptation to alternative foraging habitats. Strong assortative mating was evident in laboratory trials, but a few hybridization events occurred. Probability of interspecific mating was strongly correlated with body size: interspecific spawning occurred only between the largest individuals of the smaller species and the smallest individuals of the larger species. Probability of spawning between similar-sized individuals from different species was comparable to spawning rates within species. Disruption of mating between individuals from different species can be traced to increased levels of male aggression and decreased levels of male courtship as size differences increased between paired individuals. Interspecific mate preferences in sympatric sticklebacks appears to be dominated by body size, implicating natural selection in the origin of species. View Show abstract A PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF CHARACTER DISPLACEMENT IN CARIBBEAN ANOLIS LIZARDS Article May 1990 Evolution Jonathan B Losos Twenty-seven islands in the Lesser Antilles contain either one or two species of Anolis lizards. On nine of the ten two-species islands, the species differ substantially in size; 16 of the 17 one-species islands harbor an intermediate-sized species. Two processes could produce such a pattern: size adjustment (or character displacement), in which similar-sized species evolve in different directions in sympatry; and size assortment, in which only different-sized species can successfully colonize the same island together. Previous analyses implicitly have assumed that size is evolutionarily plastic and determined solely by recent ecological conditions, and consequently have tested the hypothesis that character displacement has occurred on each of the ten two-species islands. Other studies have focused only on size assortment. View Show abstract MODES OF SPECIATION IN BIRDS: A TEST OF LYNCH'S METHOD Article Apr 1994 Evolution R. Terry Chesser Robert Zink View SYMPATRIC SPECIATION VIA HABITAT SPECIALIZATION DRIVEN BY DELETERIOUS MUTATIONS Article Dec 1997 Evolution Tadeusz J Kawecki Theoretical studies have suggested that the evolution of habitat (host) races, regarded as a prelude to sympatric speciation, requires strong trade-offs in adaptation to different habitats: alleles that improve fitness in some habitats and have deleterious effects of similar magnitude in other habitats must be segregating in the population. I argue that such trade-offs are not necessary; the evolution of habitat races can also be driven by genetic variation due to loci that affect fitness in one habitat and are neutral or nearly so in others, that is, when performance in different habitats is genetically independent. One source of such genetic variation are deleterious mutations with habitat-specific fitness effects. I use deterministic two-locus and multilocus models to show that the presence of such mutations in the gene pool results in indirect selection favoring habitat fidelity or habitat preference over acceptance of both suitable habitats. This leads to the evolution of largely genetically isolated populations that use different habitats, from a single panmictic population of individuals accepting both habitats. This study suggests that the conditions favoring habitat race formation, and thus possibly sympatric speciation, are much less stringent than previously thought. View Show abstract A MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY OF THE FELIDAE: IMMUNOLOGICAL DISTANCE Article May 1985 Evolution Glen Collier Stephen J. O'Brien The phylogenetic distances between 34 of the 37 extant species of Felidae were estimated using albumin immunological distances (AID). Albumins from ten cat species were used to prepare antisera in rabbits. A consensus phylogeny was constructed from a matrix of reciprocal AID measurements using four distinct phylogenetic algorithms. A series of one-way measurements using the ten index antisera and those 24 species for which albumins were available (but antisera were not), permitted addition of these "species' limbs" to the previously derived phylogenetic trees. The major conclusions of the derived topology were: 1) the earliest branch of the feline radiation occurred approximately 12 million years B.P. and led to the small South American cats (ocelot, margay, Geoffroy's cat, etc.); 2) the second branching occurred 8-10 million years B.P. and included the close relatives of the domestic cat (wildcats, jungle cat, sand cat, and black-footed cat) plus Pallas's cat; 3) the third lineage which began to radiate 4-6 million years B.P. was the pantherine lineage, which included several early branches (cheetah, serval, clouded leopard, golden cats, and puma) and a very recent (2 million years B.P.) split between the lynxes and the modern great cats (Panthera). The topology of the Felidae derived from albumin immunological distance is highly consistent with the karyological disposition of these species, as well as with the fossil record of this family. Because of the recent divergence of this group, the presented data set and the derived topology contain certain unresolved phylogenetic relationships which are so indicated. View Show abstract ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF CONTINENTAL BIOTAS: SPECIATION AND HISTORICAL CONGRUENCE WITHIN THE AUSTRALIAN AVIFAUNA Article Sep 1986 Evolution Joel Cracraft Factors governing the origin and evolution of continental biotas were investigated using an analysis of speciation patterns within the Australian avifauna. Phylogenetic relationships within seven lineages of birds were analyzed by numerical cladistic techniques applied to data sets of morphological characters. These relationships revealed extensive congruence among the spatial and temporal histories of lineages whose species are endemic to common areas of endemism. A general hypothesis is constructed to explain this congruence in which widespread biotas are postulated to have been partitioned into areas of endemism by the origin of geomorphological and/or ecological-climatic barriers. Congruence in these phylogenetic patterns of differentiation suggests the following historical pattern of interrelationships for areas of endemism along the northern and eastern coasts of Australia: (Kimberley Plateau + Arnhem Land) + ([New Guinea + Cape York Peninsula] + [Atherton Plateau + Eastern Coastal Rainforest]). Likewise, this study indicates that the arid interior avifauna was segregated into two closely related biotas (Eastern and Western Desert biotas) by the Eyrean Barrier. These biotas are, in turn, related to a more mesic avifauna that was itself subdivided into areas of endemism located in the Southwest and Southeast corners of the continent. View Show abstract Prior agreement: Arbitration or arbitrary? Article Dec 1997 SYST BIOL Mark E. Siddall View A Phylogenetic Analysis and Definition of the Carnivora Chapter Jan 1993 André R. Wyss J.J. Flynn View Hyoid structure, laryngeal anatomy, and vocalization in felids (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae) Article Jan 1994 Gustav Peters M.H. Hast View Fossil history of living Felidae Article Jan 1979 H. Hemmer View Evolutionary Strategies of Parasitic Insects and Mite Chapter Jan 1975 Guy L. Bush The appearance of new insect pests on economically important plants is a well-known phenomenon to many applied biologists. In addition, populations of introduced or native insects are frequently encountered which exhibit different host preferences, but which are morphologically indistinguishable from one another (Brues 1924, Simms 1931, Mayr 1942, Andrewartha and Birch 1954, Zwölfer and Harris 1971). These so-called host races sometimes actually represent previously unrecognized reproductively isolated sibling species. Others appear to retain their distinct host preferences and other biological traits in the absence of any observable barriers to gene flow between the races. Two classic examples in North America are the codling moth (Laspeyresia pomonella), introduced from Europe in 1750, which shifted from apples to walnuts about 26 years after it reached California in 1873 (Essig 1931, Foster 1912), and the apple maggot (Rhagoletis pomonella) which moved from its native host hawthorn to introduced apples in 1864 and cherries less than 20 years ago (Bush 1966, 1969a,b, 1974). View Show abstract Sympatric Speciation Article Nov 1966 AM NAT J. Maynard Smith View Biogeography Article Jun 1984 Syst Zool John A. Endler James H. Brown Arthur C. Gibson View Genetic Variability and Biochemical Systematics of Domestic and Wild Cat Populations (Felis silvestris: Felidae) Article Feb 1991 J MAMMAL Ettore Randi Bernardino Ragni Genetic variability and phylogenetic relationships among domestic and wild populations of cats were studied by allozyme electrophoresis. Tissues were obtained from 67 specimens of European wild cats (Felis silvestris silvestris), African wild cats (F. s. libyca), and domestic cats from Italy; 54 presumptive loci were resolved. The average proportion of polymorphic loci and heterozygosity were P̄ = 0.11, H̄ = 0.042 in the wild cat, and P̄ = 0.20, H̄ = 0.066 in the domestic cat. Despite reduced genetic variability, local populations of wild cats were not inbred, as indicated by nonsignificant FIS values. Both FST and Nei's genetic distances between domestic and wild populations were low (F̄ST = 0.04; D̄ = 0.0082). Dendrograms indicate that the domestic cat belongs to the African wild cat lineage, which supports current hypotheses on cat domestication. Based on the genetic evidence, we suggest that the European wild cat, the African wild cat, and the domestic cat belong to the same polytypic species (Felis silvestris Schreber, 1777), and that the European and African wild cats diverged approximately 20,000 years ago. View Show abstract Origin and Evolution of Continental Biotas: Speciation and Historical Congruence within the Australian Avifauna Article Sep 1986 EVOLUTION Joel Cracraft Factors governing the origin and evolution of continental biotas were investigated using an analysis of speciation patterns within the Australian avifauna. Phylogenetic relationships within seven lineages of birds were analyzed by numerical cladistic techniques applied to data sets of morphological characters. These relationships revealed extensive congruence among the spatial and temporal histories of lineages whose species are endemic to common areas of endemism. A general hypothesis is constructed to explain this congruence in which widespread biotas are postulated to have been partitioned into areas of endemism by the origin of geomorphological and/or ecological-climatic barriers. Congruence in these phylogenetic patterns of differentiation suggests the following historical pattern of interrelationships for areas of endemism along the northern and eastern coasts of Australia: (Kimberley Plateau + Arnhem Land) + ([New Guinea + Cape York Peninsula] + [Atherton Plateau + Eastern Coastal Rainforest]). Likewise, this study indicates that the arid interior avifauna was segregated into two closely related biotas (Eastern and Western Desert biotas) by the Eyrean Barrier. These biotas are, in turn, related to a more mesic avifauna that was itself subdivided into areas of endemism located in the Southwest and Southeast corners of the continent. View Show abstract Resource Partitioning in Amphibians and Reptiles Article Feb 1985 COPEIA Catherine A. Toft Resource partitioning, or differences in how species use resources, has been studied in a wide variety of amphibians and reptiles, and causes for resource-partitioning patterns are now understood in several well-documented cases. This study, a review of these papers, reveals a common theme: Resource-partitioning patterns result from three categories of causes, of which competition is just one; the other two are predation and factors that operate independently of interspecific interactions, such as physiological constraints. Moreover, in each of the case histories presented below, we find two or more mechanisms interacting in complex ways. In no case does a single factor, for example competition, ever act alone. These case histories therefore provide an admonishment to single-minded tests of community-wide patterns that pit competition against everything (or nothing) else. Rather, a variety of factors may cause community-wide patterns such as resource partitioning, and the relative importance of these factors may differ among taxa and among communities at different geographic locations. View Show abstract A Phylogenetic Analysis of Character Displacement in Caribbean Anolis Lizards Article May 1990 Evolution Jonathan B Losos Twenty-seven islands in the Lesser Antilles contain either 1 or 2 species of Anolis lizards. On 9 of the 10 2-species islands, the species differ substantially in size; 16 of the 17 one-species islands harbor an intermediate-sized species. Two processes could produce such a pattern: size adjustment (or character displacement), in which similar-sized species evolve in different directions in sympatry; and size assortment, in which only different-sized species can successfully colonize the same island together. Size evolution appears rare (a minimum of 4-7 instances of substantial size evolution). In the northern (but not the southern) Lesser Antilles, size change was significantly greater when a descendant taxon occurred on a 2-species island and its hypothetical ancestor occurred on a 1-species island, supporting the size adjustment hypothesis, though size adjustment might have occurred only once. The relative rarity of size evolution suggests that size assortment might be responsible for non-random patterns. Similar-sized species might not coexist because they interbreed and coalesce into one gene pool. Competitive exclusion is probably responsible for the pattern of size assortment in the N Lesser Antilles; both competitive exclusion and interbreeding of closely related species of similar size might be responsible for the patterns evident in the S Lesser Antilles. -from Author View Show abstract Modes of Speciation in Birds: A Test of Lynch's Method Article Apr 1994 Evolution R. Terry Chesser Robert M. Zink View Body Size, Natural Selection, and Speciation in Sticklebacks Article Feb 1998 Evolution Laura Nagel Dolph Schluter There is little evidence from nature that divergent natural selection is crucial to speciation. However, divergent selection is implicated if traits conferring adaptation to alternative environments also form the basis of reproductive isolation. We tested the importance of body size differences to premating isolation between two sympatric sticklebacks. The species differ greatly in size, and several lines of evidence indicate that this difference is an adaptation to alternative foraging habitats. Strong assortative mating was evident in laboratory trials, but a few hybridization events occurred. Probability of interspecific mating was strongly correlated with body size: interspecific spawning occurred only between the largest individuals of the smaller species and the smallest individuals of the larger species. Probability of spawning between similar-sized individuals from different species was comparable to spawning rates within species. Disruption of mating between individuals from different species can be traced to increased levels of male aggression and decreased levels of male courtship as size differences increased between paired individuals. Interspecific mate preferences in sympatric sticklebacks appears to be dominated by body size, implicating natural selection in the origin of species. View Show abstract Phylogeny, Ecology, and Behavior Article Apr 1992 J Parasitol John Janovy Daniel R Brooks Deborah A. Mclennan View A Molecular Phylogeny of the Felidae: Immunological Distance Article May 1985 EVOLUTION Glen Collier Stephen J. O'Brien The phylogenetic distances between 34 of the 37 extant species of Felidae were estimated using albumin immunological distances (AID). Albumins from ten cat species were used to prepare antisera in rabbits. A consensus phylogeny was constructed from a matrix of reciprocal AID measurements using four distinct phylogenetic algorithms. A series of one-way measurements using the ten index antisera and those 24 species for which albumins were available (but antisera were not), permitted addition of these "species' limbs" to the previously derived phylogenetic trees. The major conclusions of the derived topology were: 1) the earliest branch of the feline radiation occurred approximately 12 million years B.P. and led to the small South American cats (ocelot, margay, Geoffroy's cat, etc.); 2) the second branching occurred 8-10 million years B.P. and included the close relatives of the domestic cat (wildcats, jungle cat, sand cat, and black-footed cat) plus Pallas's cat; 3) the third lineage which began to radiate 4-6 million years B.P. was the pantherine lineage, which included several early branches (cheetah, serval, clouded leopard, golden cats, and puma) and a very recent (2 million years B.P.) split between the lynxes and the modern great cats (Panthera). The topology of the Felidae derived from albumin immunological distance is highly consistent with the karyological disposition of these species, as well as with the fossil record of this family. Because of the recent divergence of this group, the presented data set and the derived topology contain certain unresolved phylogenetic relationships which are so indicated. View Show abstract Animal Species And Evolution Book Jan 1963 Ernst Mayr View The Out-Group Comparison Method of Character Analysis Article Mar 1981 SYST BIOL Larry E. Watrous Quentin Wheeler The out-group comparison method of character analysis. Syst. Zool., 30:1–11.—An operational rule for analyzing character polarity with out-group comparison is presented and a series of observations, including potential problems in applying the rule, are discussed. The “commonality principle” (=“frequency of occurrence,” “common equals primitive”) for determining character polarity is reviewed and dismissed as a reliable alternative to out-group comparison. Based on the rule and observations, a general method for character analysis is synthesized. View Show abstract A Concern for Evidence and a Phylogenetic Hypothesis of Relationships Among Epicrates (Boidae, Serpentes) Article Mar 1989 SYST BIOL Arnold G. Kluge Character congruence, the principle of using all the relevant data, and character independence are important concepts in phylogenetic inference, because they relate directly to the evidence on which hypotheses are based. Taxonomic congruence, which is agreement among patterns of taxonomic relationships, is less important, because its connection to the underlying character evidence is indirect and often imperfect. Also, taxonomic congruence is difficult to justify, because of the arbitrariness involved in choosing a consensus method and index with which to estimate agreement. High levels of character congruence were observed among 89 biochemical and morphological synapomorphies scored on 10 species of Epicrates. Such agreement is consistent with the phylogenetic interpretation attached to the resulting hypothesis, which is a consensus of two equally parsimonious cladograms: (cenchria (angulifer (striatus ((chrysogaster, exsul) (inornatus, subflavus) (gracilis (fordii, monensis)))))). Relatively little (11.4%) of the character incongruence was due to the disparity between the biochemical and morphological data sets. Each of the clades in the consensus cladogram was confirmed by two or more unique and unreversed novelties, and six of the eight clades were corroborated by biochemical and morphological evidence. Such combinations of characters add confidence to the phylogenetic hypothesis, assuming the qualitatively different kinds of data are more likely to count as independent than are observations drawn from the same character system. Most of the incongruence occurred in the skeletal subset of characters, and much of that independent evolution seemed to be the result of paedomorphosis. View Show abstract Evolution as Entropy: Toward a Unified Theory of Biology Book Nov 1986 TAXON Daniel R Brooks E. O. Wiley View Cladistic Analysis and Vicariance Biogeography Article Jan 1983 AM SCI Joel Cracraft Cladistics (phylogenetic systematics) recognizes natural groups by uniquely derived characters (synapomorphies); only natural groups (defined by synapomorphies to be monophyletic) are admitted into the Linnean classification scheme. Just as cladistic analysis provides a method for revealing the degree of congruence among the characters of organisms, vicariance biogeography assesses the degree of congruence in the distributional pattern of taxa. Knowledge of biogeographic pattern is essential to understand evolutionary history and the processes postulated to have preceded it. An example is taken from northern and eastern Australia, which can be described biogeographically in terms of 5 areas of endemism.-P.J.Jarvis View Show abstract Walker's Mammals of the World II Article Feb 1993 J MAMMAL Ronald M Nowak View The Anolis Lizards of Bimini: Resource Partitioning in a Complex Fauna Article Jul 1968 ECOLOGY Thomas Schoener The tiny island of South Bimini contains 4 species of lizards of he genus Anolis, a number surpassed only on the 4 largest islands of the Greater Antilles and on 2 very large and nearby satellite islands. These species are syntopic with respect to a two-dimensional area of the ground but divide the habitat according to perch height and perch diameter: sagrei is partly terrestrial but occurs more often on small and large low perches; distichus prefers the trunks and large branches of medium to large trees; angusticipes inhabits small twigs, especially at great heights; and carolinensis is found mostly on leaves or on the adjacent twigs and brances. The size classes of the species are staggered in such a way that the interspecific classes which overlap most in habitat overlap least in prey size. Similarities in prey size and prey taxa for classes of the same species are somewhat greater than those expected on the basis of habitat and morphology alone. The distribution of the species among the vegetation communities of Bimini can be explained on the basis of perch height and diameter preference. Within the same species, the larger lizards usually eat larger food, fewer items, and in sagrei more fruit; and they have a greater average range of food size per digestive tract. One species (distichus) is extremely myrmecophagous: about 75-90% of its food items are ants. In 3 of the 4 species, subadult males take more food and average smaller prey then females of the same head length. That species (distichus) which takes the smallest food items and whose classes overlap the most in habitat preference with those of other species is least dimorphic is size between the sexes. It is suggested that such small, nondimorphic species are best suited for insinuation into complex faunas, whereas larger, dimorphic forms are best for the colonization of empty areas. The usefulness of various measures of "overlap" and "specialization" is evaluated for this lizard association. View Show abstract Evolution of the Felid Brain; pp. 214–228 Article Jan 1975 Brain Behav Evol L. Radinsky Endocranial casts of 15 genera of fossil felids provide a record of felid brain evolution over the past 35 million years. Brains of the earliest felids, known as paleofelids, had coronolateral, suprasylvian and variably developed ectosylvian sulci as their only neocortical sulci. The last paleofelids, which became extinct around 8 million years ago, show little change in external brain morphology except for the addition of a presylvian sulcus. The other group of felids, the neofelids, appears about 25 million years ago, with coronolateral and suprasylvian sulci their main neocortical sulci,plus a discontinuous ectosylvian sulcus and small postlateral, sylvian and presylvian sulci. The posterior cerebellar vermis was straight and unexpanded. Beginnings of expansion of the sigmoid gyri and development of the cruciate sulcus are evident in neofelids 15–20 million years ago, and by 5–9 million years ago neofelids had brains that appear modern in external morphology. Endocasts of four genera of Pleistocene saber-toothed felids are similar in sulcal pattern to those of modern felids, except for Dinobastis, which had a unique expansion of visual cortex. Endocasts of 27 species of modern felids, representing the six commonly recognized genera, are strikingly similar in external morphology, although the brains of a few species, such as cheetahs, lynxes and jagouarundis, display distinguishing features. Modern felid brains average about the same size relative to body weight as do those of viverrids, but are about 25% smaller in relative size than those of canids. Olfactory bulbs are relatively smaller in felids than in canids or viverrids.Copyright © 1975 S. Karger AG, Basel View Show abstract Sympatric Speciation via Habitat Specialization Driven by Deleterious Mutations Article Dec 1997 EVOLUTION Tadeusz J Kawecki Theoretical studies have suggested that the evolution of habitat (host) races, regarded as a prelude to sympatric speciation, requires strong trade-offs in adaptation to different habitats: alleles that improve fitness in some habitats and have deleterious effects of similar magnitude in other habitats must be segregating in the population. I argue that such trade-offs are not necessary; the evolution of habitat races can also be driven by genetic variation due to loci that affect fitness in one habitat and are neutral or nearly so in others, that is, when performance in different habitats is genetically independent. One source of such genetic variation are deleterious mutations wit:? habitat-specific fitness effects. I use deterministic two-locus and multilocus models to show that the presence of such mutations in the gene pool results in indirect selection favoring habitat fidelity or habitat preference over acceptance of both suitable habitats. This leads to the evolution of largely genetically isolated populations that use different habitats, from a single panmictic population of individuals accepting both habitats. This study suggests that the conditions favoring habitat race formation, and thus possibly sympatric speciation, are much less stringent than previously thought. View Show abstract The Red List of Threatened Animals Article Jan 1996 J.E.M. Baillie B. Groombridge View Adaptive differentiation following experimental colonization in Anolis lizards Article May 1997 Nature Jonathan B Losos Thomas Schoener If colonizing populations are displaced into an environment that is often very different from that of their source1, they are particularly likely to diverge evolutionarily, the more so because they are usually small and thus likely to change by genetic restructuring or drift2,3. Despite its fundamental importance, the consequence of colonization for traits of founding populations have primarily been surmised from static present-day distributions1,2,4,5, laboratory experiments6 and the outcomes of haphazard human introductions7-9, rather than from replicated field experiments. Here we report long-term results of just such an experimental study. Populations of the lizard Anolis sagrei, introduced onto small islands from a nearby source, differentiated from each other rapidly over a 10-14-year period. The more different the recipient island's vegetation from that of the source, the greater the magnitude of differentiation. Further, the direction of differentiation followed an expectation based on the evolutionary diversification of insular Anolis over its entire geographic range. In addition to providing a glimpse of adaptive dynamics in one of the most extensive generic radiations on earth, the results lend support to the general argument that environment determines the evolution of morphology. View Show abstract Stable Underdominance and the Evolutionary Invasion of Empty Niches Article Jun 1986 AM NAT David Sloan Wilson Michael Turelli Complex adaptations are frequently polygenic passing through several relatively poorly adapted intermediate stages. Evolutionists frequently invoke density- and frequency-dependent selection to explain this process. The initial poorly adapted morphs are assumed to have high fitness because they use an unexploited resource or otherwise occupy an 'empty niche'. This process is explored with a single-locus selection model based on the differential utilization of 2 distinct resources. Unexploited niches can be invaded by poorly adapted morphs. Heterozygotes often have the lowest fitness at stable polymorphic equilibria. Stable 2-locus polymorphisms exist, in which the most heterozygous individuals are the least fit. In general, maladaptive phenotypes are frequently maintained in these models, and may present a biologically plausible framework in which to investigate evolutionary modifications of dominance, linkage, and mating that reduce the frequency of maladaptive phenotypes. -from Authors View Show abstract The Evolutionary Species Concept Reconsidered Article Mar 1978 Syst Zool E. O. Wiley Wiley, E. O. (Division of Fishes, Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045). 1978. Syst. Zool. 27:17-26.-The concept of species (as taxa) adopted by an investigator will influence his perception of the processes by which species originate. The concept adopted should have as universal applicability as current knowledge permits. Simpson’s definition of a species is modified to state: A species is a lineage of ancestral descendant populations which maintains its identity from other such lineages and which has its own evolutionary tendencies and historical fate. This definition is defended as that which has widest applicability given current knowledge of evolutionary processes. Four corollaries are deduced and discussed relative to other species concepts: (1) all organisms, past and present, belong to some evolutionary species; (2) reproductive isolation must be effective enough to permit maintenance of identity from other contemporary lineages; (3) morphological distinctiveness is not necessary; and (4) no presumed (hypothesized) single lineage may be subdivided into a series of ancestral-descendant “species.” The application of the evolutionary species concept to allopatric demes and to asexual species is discussed and it is concluded that the lack of evolutionary divergence forms the basis for grouping such populations into single species. It is suggested that some ecological species definitions lead to under-estimations of the rate of extinction due to interspecific competition because their logical framework excludes unsuccessful species from being species. Finally, the implications of accepting an evolutionary species concept to the field of phylogeny reconstruction are discussed. [Species concepts; evolution; phylogeny reconstruction.]. View Show abstract Vicariant Patterns and Historical Explanation in Biogeography Article Jun 1978 Syst Zool Donn E. Rosen Rosen, D. E. (Department of Ichthyology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York 10024) 1978. Vicariant patterns and historical explanation in biogeography. Syst. Zool. 27:159-188.-Geographic coincidence of animal and plant distributions to form recognizable patterns suggests that the separate components of the patterns are historically connected with each other and with geographic history. To seek evidence of these historical connections, cladograms of geographic areas, representing sequences of disruptive geologic, climatic, or geographic events, may be compared with biological cladograms, representing sequences of allopatric speciation events in relation to those geographic areas. Such comparisons, when they meet the minimum requirements of being among dichotomized three- taxon cladograms, can resolve similar or dissimilar historical factors; two-taxon statements do not distinguish between groups with different histories. Congruence of biological and geological area-cladograms at a high confidence level (such as congruence of a five-taxon clado- gram or four three-taxon cladograms with a geological cladogram, where the confidence level can be shown in cladistic theory to be 99%) means that specified events of paleogeography can be adopted as an explanation of the biological patterns. In such a cause and effect relationship, where the earth and its life are assumed to have evolved together, paleogeography is taken by logical necessity to be the independent variable and biological history, the dependent variable. Drawing a mathematical simile, the biological cladogram y (dependent variable), is a function of the geological cladogram x (independent variable), as in a simple regression of effect y on cause x where we are given no free choice as to which is the independent variable. Such a view implies that any specified sequence in earth history must coincide with some discoverable biological patterns; it does not imply a necessary converse that each biological pattern must coincide with some discoverable paleogeographic pattern, because some biological distributions might have resulted from stochastic processes (chance dispersal). Determining that all discoverable biological patterns conflict with a given corroborated or observed sequence of geologic, climatic, or geographic change (i.e., that y is not a function of x), in theory, therefore should falsify vicariance biogeography. Because dispersal biogeography presupposes stochastic processes, and any failure to meet the expectation of a postulated dispersal is explained by an additional dispersal, dispersal biogeography is immune to falsification. Without resort to paleontology or earth history, whether a given historical relationship implied by congruence of biological area-cladograms is the result of dispersal or vicariance can also be thought of in terms which minimize the number of necessary assumptions: Did the sedentary organisms disperse with the vagile ones or did the vagile organisms vicariate with the sedentary ones? Cladistic congruence of a group of sedentary organisms with a group of vagile ones rejects dispersal for both. Hence, distributions of sedentary organisms have the potential to falsify dispersal theories as applied to vagile organisms, but distributions of vagile organisms cannot falsify vicariance theories as applied to sedentary ones. The problems that arise in various kinds of historical explanation are exemplified by several specific distributions of fishes and other organisms in North and Middle America and in the larger context of Pangaean history, and are discussed in relation to current species concepts. [Vicariance; species concepts; biocladistics; biohistory; geocladistics; geohistory; Neotropics; Gondwanaland.]. View Show abstract Species Concepts and Speciation Analysis Article Jan 1983 Joel Cracraft Systematic biologists have directed much attention to species concepts because they realize that the origin of taxonomic diversity is the fundamental problem of evolutionary biology. Questions such as, What are the units of evolution? and, How do these units originate? thus continually capture the attention of many. It is probably no exaggeration to say that most believe the “systematic” aspects of the problem have been solved to a greater or lesser extent, whereas the task before us now is to understand the “genetic” and “ecologic” components of differentiation, i. e., those aspects often perceived to constitute the “real mechanisms” of speciation: A study of speciation is, to a considerable extent, a study of the genetics and evolution of reproductive isolating mechanisms (Bush, 1975, p. 339). ... a new mechanistic taxonomy of speciation is needed before population genetics, which deals with evolutionary mechanisms, can be properly integrated with speciation theory; that is, the various modes of speciation should be characterized according to the various forces and genetic mechanisms that underly [sic] the evolution of isolating barriers (Templeton 1980, p. 720). View Show abstract Mitochondrial DNA comparisons between the African wild cat and the domestic cat Article Jun 1997 S AFR J WILDL RES M Faadiel Essop Nomusa Mda E H Harley There has been dispute regarding the evolutionary relationship between three closely related felids, Felis lybica, Felis catus and Felis silvestris. Recent molecular studies have reported conficting results. Some authors described F. lybica and F. silvestris as distinct, separate species, while others classified them as being conspecific. We constructed mitochondrial DNA restriction site maps of F. catus, F. silvestris and F. lybica using 16 restriction endonucleases. Our results show complete identity between F. catus and F. lybica, whereas an estimated sequence divergence of 0.9% was found between their mitochondrial DNA and that of F. silvestris. This is consistent with F. lybica and F. catus being regarded as subspecies of F. silvestris. View Show abstract The Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection Article May 1951 ACAD MED Charles Darwin View Morphological and pelage characteristics of wild living cats in Scotland: Implications for defining the 'wildcat' Article Feb 2006 J Zool Mike J. Daniels D. Balharry David Hirst Richard Aspinall The indigenous wildcat, Felis silvestris Schreber, 1775, and the introduced domestic cat, F. catus L., have been sympatric in Britain for more than 2000 years. As a result of interbreeding, any distinction between these two forms has become obscured, although a range of morphological criteria (pelage patterns, body measurements, gut lengths, skull morphometrics) and genetic techniques (immunological distances, electrophoresis, DNA hybridization) have been used previously to distinguish between them. View Show abstract Total Evidence Or Taxonomic Congruence: Cladistics Or Consensus Classification Article Jun 1998 Cladistics Arnold G. Kluge Miyamoto and Fitch's (1995, Syst. Biol. 44: 64-76) verificationist arguments for taxonomic congruence are evaluated and found to be unconvincing. In particular, there is no logical connection between the truth of phylogenetic hypotheses and the independence of the sets of characters analysed for their consensus. Further, the character set partitions emphasized by Miyamoto and Fitch must be considered arbitrary, because they are based on untestable process assumptions. (C) 1998 The Willi Hennig Society. View Show abstract Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates Article Dec 1985 OECOLOGIA John L. Gittleman Variation in body size (weight) is examined across the order Carnivora in relation to taxonomy (phylogeny), latitude, habitat, zonation, activity cycle, diet, prey size, and prey diversity. Significant differences in body weight are observed with respect to family membership. Some of these differences may be explained by phylogenetic history and/or dietary effects. Body weight is not correlated with habitat, zonation, activity cycle or latitudinal gradients. Significant differences in body weight are found among insectivorous, herbivorous and carnivorous species, and some of these differences may relate to energetic constraints. Among predatory carnivores, prey size and diversity increases with body weight. The adaptive significance, both intra- and inter-specifically, of prey characteristics (size, availability, diversity) and carnivore body weight qualities (strength, endurance, hunting technique) is discussed. View Show abstract Interspecific size regularities in tropical felid assemblages Article Jun 1988 OECOLOGIA Richard A. Kiltie I extend an earlier analysis of size relationships in Neotropical cats to felid assemblages in tropical Africa and Asia. Jaw length is the size measure, which apparently correlates well with modal prey size. Each assemblage contains two species (convergents) that are indistinguishable in jaw length. When, the convergent species are treated as separate entities, there is little evidence of even ratios, but there is a tendency for ratios to be larger on average than expected by random assembly, especially among the larger species. This tendency may reflect greater prey size variance for the large species or fewer alternatives to prey size as a basis for niche segregation among large species. Extreme evenness in size ratios observed among the larger Neotropical cats is not repeated in the other assemblages. Because demonstration of strong size ratio evenness depends on merging the convergents, the significance of such regularity must await greater knowledge of the habits of the convergent species. Differences between the convergent species in habitat use or predatory behavior are suggested by the fact that in each convergent pair, one species has dappled (striped or spotted) coat coloration and the other a plain coat. View Show abstract Show more Recommendations Discover more Project The Salmoninae group and The Phylogeny of Behaviour Manu Esteve Deborah A. Mclennan Mitsuru Kawahara View project Project Speciation of big cats Maria Pontier View project Conference Paper Anthropometric characteristics and gait transition speed in human locomotion September 2008 Rakovac Marija Davor Sentija Vesna Babić The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between anthropometric parameters and the preferred transition speed (PTS) in human locomotion, in both genders. The studies exploring body measures as determinants of the PTS are biased toward longitudinal dimensions, as the relationships between the PTS and transverse body dimensions have not been examined so far. Longitudinal and ... [Show full abstract] transverse anthropometric parameters were measured in 54 PE students (23 males, 31 females), and an exercise test was performed for determination of the PTS. Correlation coefficients between the anthropometric variables and the PTS were calculated, and a stepwise multiple linear regression analysis was derived. Weak to moderate correlations between several body size and body shape variables and the PTS were found. In males, a significant negative correlation of the bitrochanteric diameter/height (BD/H) ratio with the PTS was found (r=-0.61, p<0.01). In females, calf girth was significantly negatively correlated with the PTS (r=-0.55, p<0.01). The results of this study suggest that gait transition speed in humans is related to transverse and longitudinal body dimensions, and that sexual dimorphism in body size and shape should be taken into consideration for proper interpretation of the PTS. Read more Article Snout-to-hind-leg as a measure of the body size of eastern red-backed salamanders September 2002 · Herpetological Review K.J. Szuba B.J. Naylor D.F. Hackett M.P. Twiss Read more Article Body size and composition and colon cancer risk in women March 2006 · International Journal of Cancer Robert Macinnis Dallas English John L. Hopper [...] Graham G Giles Studies of colon cancer risk in males have reported strong positive associations with obesity, particularly with central adiposity. The association has been weaker and less consistent for women. In a prospective cohort study of women, body measurements were taken directly; fat mass and fat-free mass being estimated by bioelectrical impedance analysis and central adiposity by waist circumference ... [Show full abstract] and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Among 24,072 women followed on average for 10.4 years, 212 colon cancers were ascertained via the population cancer registry. We reviewed medical records of all cases and classified them according to anatomic site and stage. The central adiposity measures of WHR (hazard ratio per 0.1 unit increase = 1.31, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08-1.58) and waist circumference (hazard ratio per 10 cm increase = 1.14, 95% CI 1.02-1.28) were positively associated with colon cancer risk. There was little or no association between other anthropometric measures and risk of colon cancer. There was some evidence that the associations were stronger for proximal tumors, but no evidence that risk differed by stage for any of the anthropometric measures. Central adiposity appears to be associated with colon cancer risk in women. Read more Article Full-text available Resurrection of Staurois parvus from S. tuberilinguis from Borneo (Amphibia, Ranidae) February 2007 · ZOOLOGICAL SCIENCE Masafumi Matsui Maryati Mohamed Tomohiko Shimada Ahmad Sudin Two forms of Staurois that are differentiated by body size occur parapatrically in the Crocker Range, Sabah, Borneo. Analyses of a total of 1,499 bp of the mitochondrial cytochrome b, 12S rRNA, and 16S rRNA genes revealed that the two forms could be completely split genetically. The two forms could be also clearly differentiated morphologically, not only by snout-vent length but also by the ... [Show full abstract] relative sizes of snout, eye, and finger disk. Comparisons of the two forms with all known species of the genus revealed the large and small forms to be S. tuberilinguis and S. parvus, respectively. The latter species has long been synonymized with the former, but we here consider them to represent different species. View full-text Last Updated: 10 Oct 2020 Looking for the full-text? You can request the full-text of this article directly from the authors on ResearchGate. Request full-text Already a member? Log in ResearchGate iOS App Get it from the App Store now. 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