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Desmodilliscus braueri crania compared to Pachyuromys duprasi (Desmodilliscini, Gerbillinae, Rodentia)

  • Bader H. Alhajeri ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: August 11, 2021
Mammalia
From the journal Mammalia Volume 86 Issue 1

Abstract

Molecular phylogenies support the monophyly of Desmodilliscus braueri and Pachyuromys duprasi as a clade basally split from all other gerbillines. While this monophyly supports their placement in a single tribe (Desmodilliscini), no morphological synapomorphies exist among desmodilliscines. This study compares the scale-independent cranial shapes of these two species using geometric morphometrics to determine how they differ and/or converge. Tribal synapomorphies, should they exist, may appear as interspecifically invariable cranial regions. No such invariable cranial regions were detected. The two species significantly differed in cranial size and shape. A small part of shape variation was allometric, with a weak unique allometric effect. No sexual size nor shape dimorphism was found. The sister taxa greatly differed in almost all cranial features, with Pachyuromys (when compared to Desmodilliscus) having a larger-sized cranium, with a larger bulla and suprameatal triangle, a more posteriorly placed palatine foramina, and more anteriorly shifted (and reduced) rostral cranial structures, due to being crowded by the hypertrophied bulla. Cranial variation patterns are consistent with the literature. The extreme morphological divergence among these species is explained by the distant divergence time and ecological differences. Absence of cranial shape synapomorphies does not preclude synapomorphies in other craniodental morphological features (e.g., detailed morphology of the dentition and cranial foramina) or in other morphological structures, such as the postcranial skeleton.

Keywords: Africa; fat-tailed gerbil (Pachyuromys duprasi); geometric morphometric; gerbil (Gerbillinae); pouched gerbil (Desmodilliscus braueri); skull
Corresponding author: Bader H. Alhajeri, Department of Biological Sciences, Kuwait University, Safat, 13060, Kuwait, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

I thank Dr. Bruce Patterson, Dr. Lawrence Heaney, Dr. Adam Ferguson, Mr. John Phelps, Mr. William Stanley, Ms. Lauren Smith (FMNH); Dr. Christopher Conroy, Dr. James Patton, Dr. Eileen Lacey (MVZ); Mr. Darrin Lunde, and Dr. Michael Carleton (USNM), for permission to visit the museums and general assistance. I also thank the two anonymous referees for their helpful comments.

  1. Author contributions: The author has accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: Kuwait University reimbursed a small portion of the travel expenses as part of a scientific leave (2019–2020). No grant funding was received.

  3. Conflict of interest statement: The author declares to have no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

  4. Data availability: All data generated in this study are deposited in Supplementary Material S1.

  5. Research ethics: No live animals were used in this study.

Appendix: Examined specimens (n=69). Museum abbreviations appear in the Materials and methods section

D. braueri (n=35)

USNM 378287, 378289, 378290, 378291, 378292, 378293, 378294, 378295, 378297, 378298, 378300, 378301, 378303, 378304, 379280, 379281, 379282, 379283, 402007, 402009, 402011, 402012, 402015, 402016, 402017, 402019, 402025, 402026, 402027, 410848, 410849, 410850, 453893, 453899, 453904.

P. duprasi (n=34)

FMNH 100744, 100745, 100746, 106287, 74731, 74972, 74976, 75692, 75693, 80021, 80048, 84615, 84644, 89621, 90374, 91197, 91615, 91616, 92255, 92257, 95890, 98936; MVZ 34197; USNM 321829, 325567, 325569, 473621, 473622, 473623, 473624, 473626, 473627, 473628, 482421.

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Supplementary Material

The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2021-0036).

Received: 2021-03-09
Accepted: 2021-07-01
Published Online: 2021-08-11
Published in Print: 2022-01-27

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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  1. Frontmatter
  2. Ecology
  3. Diet and activity pattern of leopard in relation to prey in tropical forest ecosystem
  4. Potential predators of Dolichotis patagonum in the surroundings of its burrows, in Sierra de las Quijadas National Park, San Luis, Argentina
  5. A pilot study on the home range and movement patterns of the Andean Fox Lycalopex culpaeus (Molina, 1782) in Cotopaxi National Park, Ecuador
  6. Bat species of a karstic region in the Brazilian savanna and extension of the Hsunycteris thomasi (Phyllostomidae: Lonchophyllinae) distribution
  7. Habitat selection of invasive alien Pallas’s squirrels (Callosciurus erythraeus) in an urban habitat with small fragmented green spaces
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  9. Ethology
  10. Behavioral response of wild mammals to pre-existing and artificial latrines of raccoon dogs in northeastern Japan
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  12. The distribution of American mink (Neovison vison) in Greece
  13. Taxonomy/Phylogeny
  14. A new subspecies of Finlayson’s squirrel from an isolated island offshore of the Indochina Peninsula in southern Vietnam
  15. Desmodilliscus braueri crania compared to Pachyuromys duprasi (Desmodilliscini, Gerbillinae, Rodentia)
  16. Morphological variation in bony structures of Hylaeamys seuanezi (Rodentia, Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae) in Southern Bahia, Brazil
  17. Annual Reviewer Acknowledgement
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https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2021-0036
Keywords for this article
Africa; fat-tailed gerbil (Pachyuromys duprasi); geometric morphometric; gerbil (Gerbillinae); pouched gerbil (Desmodilliscus braueri); skull

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Ecology
  3. Diet and activity pattern of leopard in relation to prey in tropical forest ecosystem
  4. Potential predators of Dolichotis patagonum in the surroundings of its burrows, in Sierra de las Quijadas National Park, San Luis, Argentina
  5. A pilot study on the home range and movement patterns of the Andean Fox Lycalopex culpaeus (Molina, 1782) in Cotopaxi National Park, Ecuador
  6. Bat species of a karstic region in the Brazilian savanna and extension of the Hsunycteris thomasi (Phyllostomidae: Lonchophyllinae) distribution
  7. Habitat selection of invasive alien Pallas’s squirrels (Callosciurus erythraeus) in an urban habitat with small fragmented green spaces
  8. Relative use of xeric boreal habitats by shrews (Sorex spp.)
  9. Ethology
  10. Behavioral response of wild mammals to pre-existing and artificial latrines of raccoon dogs in northeastern Japan
  11. Biogeography
  12. The distribution of American mink (Neovison vison) in Greece
  13. Taxonomy/Phylogeny
  14. A new subspecies of Finlayson’s squirrel from an isolated island offshore of the Indochina Peninsula in southern Vietnam
  15. Desmodilliscus braueri crania compared to Pachyuromys duprasi (Desmodilliscini, Gerbillinae, Rodentia)
  16. Morphological variation in bony structures of Hylaeamys seuanezi (Rodentia, Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae) in Southern Bahia, Brazil
  17. Annual Reviewer Acknowledgement
  18. Reviewer acknowledgement Mammalia volume 85 (2021)
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