Do precocial mammals develop at a faster rate? A comparison of rates of skull development in Sigmodon fulviventer and Mus musculus domesticus.

Developmental regulation of skull morphology. I. Ontogenetic dynamics of variance.

In the absence of processes regulating morphogenesis and growth, phenotypic variance of a population experiencing no selective mortality should increase throughout ontogeny. To determine whether it does, we measure variance of skull shape using geometric morphometrics and examine its ontogenetic dynamics in the precocial cotton rat (Sigmodon fulviventer) and the altricial house mouse (Mus muscu...

Developmental regulation of skull morphology II: ontogenetic dynamics of covariance.

Canalization may play a critical role in molding patterns of integration when variability is regulated by the balance between processes that generate and remove variation. Under these conditions, the interaction among those processes may produce a dynamic structure of integration even when the level of variability is constant. To determine whether the constancy of variance in skull shape throug...

Leptospirosis in small mammals of Iran: II: Isolation of Leptospira grippotyphosa, from Mus musculus

The diverse origins of New Zealand house mice.

Molecular markers and morphological characters can help infer the colonization history of organisms. A combination of mitochondrial (mt) D-loop DNA sequences, nuclear DNA data, external measurements and skull characteristics shows that house mice (Mus musculus) in New Zealand and its outlying islands are descended from very diverse sources. The predominant genome is Mus musculus domesticus (fro...

Reduced nucleotide variability at an androgen-binding protein locus (Abpa) in house mice: evidence for positive natural selection.

Previous work has shown that the gene for the alpha subunit of androgen-binding protein, Abpa, may be involved in premating isolation between different subspecies of the house mouse, Mus musculus. We investigated patterns of DNA sequence variation at Abpa within and between species of mice to test several predictions of a model of neutral molecular evolution. Intraspecific variation among 10 Mu...