Postdoctoral Fellow
While nearly all mammals are capable of digging, a number of species have made a lifestyle of excavation, constructing large, complex burrows and often collecting food below ground. Some, such as moles, rarely emerge above the ground. Fossorial (digging) life habits have evolved numerous times through the history of mammals, although fossorial mammals did not become extremely common and widespread until the middle Cenozoic, around 35 million years ago. At this time, many clades convergently evolved similar morphologies for digging, and several of those clades have become progressively better adapted for digging. The evolution of fossoriality provides an ideal study system for consideration of the course of convergent evolution of complex adaptations, as well as for consideration of the differences between key innovations and evolutionary specialization. This study aims to assemble and apply a phylogenetic framework to reconstructing the reasons for and results of the evolution of a digging life habit. By assembling evolutionary histories of the clades in which fossoriality evolved, as well as modern and fossil ecological data, I will rigorously determine the course of evolution of this feature, summarizing the commonalities and the unique features of its evolution in diverse groups.
The evolution of mammalian fossoriality: causes and consequences
| PI(s): | Samantha Hopkins |
| Start Date: | 1-Aug-2006 |
| End Date: | 31-Aug-2007 |
| Keywords: | adaptation, evolutionary novelty |
While nearly all mammals are capable of digging, a number of species have made a lifestyle of excavation, constructing large, complex burrows and often collecting food below ground. Some, such as moles, rarely emerge above the ground. Fossorial (digging) life habits have evolved numerous times through the history of mammals, although fossorial mammals did not become extremely common and widespread until the middle Cenozoic, around 35 million years ago. At this time, many clades convergently evolved similar morphologies for digging, and several of those clades have become progressively better adapted for digging. The evolution of fossoriality provides an ideal study system for consideration of the course of convergent evolution of complex adaptations, as well as for consideration of the differences between key innovations and evolutionary specialization. This study aims to assemble and apply a phylogenetic framework to reconstructing the reasons for and results of the evolution of a digging life habit. By assembling evolutionary histories of the clades in which fossoriality evolved, as well as modern and fossil ecological data, I will rigorously determine the course of evolution of this feature, summarizing the commonalities and the unique features of its evolution in diverse groups.Related products
Publications- Quantitative Morphological Proxies For Fossoriality In Small Mammals Hopkins, S.S.B. and E.B. Davis (2009). Quantitative Morphological Proxies For Fossoriality In Small Mammals. Journal Of Mammalogy 90: 1449-1460.
- Phylogeny And Evolutionary History Of The Aplodontoidea (Mammalia : Rodentia) Hopkins, S.S.B. (2008). Phylogeny And Evolutionary History Of The Aplodontoidea (Mammalia : Rodentia). Zoological Journal Of The Linnean Society 153(4): 769-838.
- Reassessing The Mass Of Exceptionally Large Rodents Using Toothrow Length And Area As Proxies For Body Mass Hopkins, S.S.B. (2008). Reassessing The Mass Of Exceptionally Large Rodents Using Toothrow Length And Area As Proxies For Body Mass. Journal Of Mammalogy 89(1): 232-243.
- Causes Of Lineage Decline In The Aplodontidae: Testing For The Influence Of Physical And Biological Change Hopkins, S.S.B. (2007). Causes Of Lineage Decline In The Aplodontidae: Testing For The Influence Of Physical And Biological Change. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 246: 331-353.
- Comparison Of Quantitative And Qualitative Proxies For Fossoriality (Digging) From The Skeletal Morphology Of Mammals Hopkins, S. (2006). Comparison Of Quantitative And Qualitative Proxies For Fossoriality (Digging) From The Skeletal Morphology Of Mammals. Journal Of Vertebrate Paleontology 26(3): 78A.
- Reexamination Of The North American Proboscidean Datum Using Faunal Similarity Analysis Davis, E, D. Prothero, and S. Hopkins (2006). Reexamination Of The North American Proboscidean Datum Using Faunal Similarity Analysis. Journal Of Vertebrate Paleontology 26(3): 54A.
