Paleontologists from the University of Liege and elsewhere investigated the evolutionary patterns behind the development of saber teeth in two groups of carnivores. feline (family members such as domestic cats, lions, tigers, etc.) and Nimura Bid (often classified as false cats).
Professor Valentin Fischer from the University of Liege said: “Unraveling the secrets of sabertooth evolution will not only enrich our understanding of Earth’s past, but also document the mechanisms that led to evolutionary convergence.” “It will be.”
“This study revealed some surprising results,” the paleontologists said.
“First, rather than contrasting two different cranial morphologies, one with elongated upper canines and one with short teeth, we contrasted the smallest extant cat with its extinct saber-toothed counterpart. There is a continuous form that connects them.”
“From a morphological point of view, the skulls of modern small cats are as strange and deformed as those of large sabre-toothed cats,” said Dr Margo Michaud, a paleontologist at the University of French Guiana.
“Thus, these are two extremes of a morphological continuum that we’ve se…
Dr Davide Tammanini, a paleontologist at the University of Rome La Sapienza, said: “Our study shows that what is considered as an example of an evolutionary pattern in textbooks is actually a simplification for educational purposes. It suggests that.”
“However, if you dive into the statistical analysis, you will find a more complex scenario in such cases, as the results of the convergence tests suggest.”
“The second surprise concerns the path evolution took to create saber-toothed species.”
“In fact, this study reveals that saber-toothed species exhibit faster morphological evolution than species with shorter canine teeth at the beginning of their evolutionary history.
“Among other intriguing findings, we show that craniomandibular integration is reduced in sabretooth species, promoting adaptability and diversification of jaw and skull morphology,” Dr. Michaud said.
“Thus, rapid morphological diversification and a fairly plastic skull were identified as two important factors promoting the emergence of elongated upper canines in both felids and nemurids.”
“As a result, there appears to be a common recipe for the evolution of saber-toothed predators,” Chater said.
The study also highlights the decline of saber-toothed forms and broader trends in feline predators over the course of their evolutionary history.
Despite the fact that the saber-toothed species went extinct relatively recently, “only” a few thousand years ago, feline predators actually lived during the Miocene (between 23 and 5 million years ago). ) has continued to decline since then.
“Some of these feline predators, particularly the saber-toothed species, have rapidly occupied quite specialized niches, thereby increasing their risk of extinction,” Dr. Tamanini said.
“This phenomenon, known as the ‘ratchet’ or macroevolutionary ratchet, has been proposed as a potential factor in the decline of certain groups, in which evolution accelerates the loss of earlier generalized forms and becomes more specialized. , but leads to the emergence of more vulnerable groups formed later in the lineage’s history. ”
“Predators have their own evolutionary paths and risks of extinction,” Professor Fisher concluded.
“Studying how ancient predators flourished and declined provides information about the future potential of our ecosystems.”
of study It was published in the magazine current biology.
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Narimane Chatal other. Evolutionary patterns of cat-like carnivores reveal drivers of saber-toothed morphology. current biology, published online on May 16, 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.055
Source: www.sci.news