Pedal Grasping Modes of the Northern Smooth-Tailed Treeshrew Dendrogale murina: Insights into the Evolution of Primate Pedal GraspingстатьяТезисы
Информация о цитировании статьи получена из
Web of Science,
Scopus
Статья опубликована в журнале из списка Web of Science и/или Scopus
Дата последнего поиска статьи во внешних источниках: 22 декабря 2015 г.
Аннотация:A key primate feature is powerful pedal grasping with a divergent opposable hallux that facilitates fine branch use for foraging on angiosperm products and/or invertebrates. The evolution of pedal grasping in archontan mammals is of great importance as it bears on the adaptive significance of specialized grasping and associated behaviours. Extant non-primate arboreal mammals, with their pedal grasping diversity, constitute good models for testing putative evolutionary stages. Treeshrews, especially basal arboreal tupaiids, are very suitable for testing pedal grasping modes and associated substrate correlates. In this context, we filmed and analysed foot position, posture and grasping in three wild-caught treeshrews, Dendrogale murina, from Vietnam. Our observations showed that convergent and claw grasping were the more common pedal grasping modes in treeshrews. Hallucal grasp was used less and was mainly associated with small and vertical substrates. Convergent grasp was frequently used on medium-sized and horizontal substrates whereas claws were used on large vertical substrates. In addition, the foot was frequently inverted and mainly placed in a semiplantigrade position. Inversion and semiplantigrady dominated on small, medium-sized and horizontal substrates but decreased on larger substrates with increased inclinations. The results demonstrate that basal treeshrews do not frequently use hallucal grasping, but invert their foot and place it in a semiplantigrade position. Even though treeshrews have not yet evolved powerful opposable pedal grasping, incipient hallucal grasping was used on small and inclined substrates, underscoring the significance of a grasping hallux for fine branch use. Powerful hallucal grasping did not evolve early in archontan evolution but was pivotal for the evolution and diversification of the groups that subsequently led to primates. This research complied with Vietnamese laws and the IPS Guidelines for the Use of Nonhuman Primates in Research.