A new hero emerges: another exceptional mammalian spine and its potential adaptive significance.
نویسندگان
چکیده
The hero shrew's (Scutisorex somereni) massive interlocking lumbar vertebrae represent the most extreme modification of the vertebral column known in mammals. No intermediate form of this remarkable morphology is known, nor is there any convincing theory to explain its functional significance. We document a new species in the heretofore monotypic genus Scutisorex; the new species possesses cranial and vertebral features representing intermediate character states between S. somereni and other shrews. Phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences support a sister relationship between the new species and S. somereni. While the function of the unusual spine in Scutisorex is unknown, it gives these small animals incredible vertebral strength. Based on field observations, we hypothesize that the unique vertebral column is an adaptation allowing these shrews to lever heavy or compressive objects to access concentrated food resources inaccessible to other animals.
منابع مشابه
Association of Tomato Leaf Curl New Delhi Virus, Betasatellite, and Alphasatellite with Mosaic Disease of Spine Gourd (Momordica dioica Roxb. Willd) in India
Background: Spine gourd (Momordica dioica Roxb. Willd) is one of the important cucurbitaceous crops grown across the world for vegetable and medicinal purposes. Diseases caused by the DNA viruses are becoming the limiting factors for the production of spine gourd reducing its potential yield. For the commercial cultivation of the spine gourd, propagation material used by most o...
متن کاملSocial Representations of Hero and Everyday Hero: A Network Study from Representative Samples
The psychological investigation of heroism is relatively new. At this stage, inductive methods can shed light on its main aspects. Therefore, we examined the social representations of Hero and Everyday Hero by collecting word associations from two separate representative samples in Hungary. We constructed two networks from these word associations. The results show that the social representation...
متن کاملChaos/Complexity Theory and Education
Sciences exist to demonstrate the fundamental order underlying nature. Chaos/complexity theory is a novel and amazing field of scientific inquiry. Notions of our everyday experiences are somehow in connection to the laws of nature through chaos/complexity theory’s concerns with the relationships between simplicity and complexity, between orderliness and randomness (Retrieved from http://www.inc...
متن کاملUsing the Adaptive Frequency Nonlinear Oscillator for Earning an Energy Efficient Motion Pattern in a Leg- Like Stretchable Pendulum by Exploiting the Resonant Mode
In this paper we investigate a biological framework to generate and adapt a motion pattern so that can be energy efficient. In fact, the motion pattern in legged animals and human emerges among interaction between a central pattern generator neural network called CPG and the musculoskeletal system. Here, we model this neuro - musculoskeletal system by means of a leg - like mechanical system cal...
متن کاملThe Time Adaptive Self Organizing Map for Distribution Estimation
The feature map represented by the set of weight vectors of the basic SOM (Self-Organizing Map) provides a good approximation to the input space from which the sample vectors come. But the timedecreasing learning rate and neighborhood function of the basic SOM algorithm reduce its capability to adapt weights for a varied environment. In dealing with non-stationary input distributions and changi...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید
ثبت ناماگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید
ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- Biology letters
دوره 9 5 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2013