Evolución morfológica y ecológica de Sciuridae (Rodentia, Mammalia) durante el Cenozoicorelación con cambios climáticos globales
- Maria de los Angeles Alvarez Sierra Director
- Manuel Hernández Fernández Director
- Ana Rosa Gómez Cano Director
Defence university: Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Fecha de defensa: 20 December 2021
- María Soledad Domingo Martinez Chair
- Blanca Ana García Yelo Secretary
- Pablo Peláez-Campomanes de Labra Committee member
- Guillermo Navalón-Fernández Committee member
- Jesús Marugán Lobón Committee member
Type: Thesis
Abstract
Squirrels are a highly diverse and widely distributed rodent family (Sciuridae), with nearly 300 species inhabiting all terrestrial biomes in the world and almost all the continents (the only exceptions being Antarctica and Australia). Also, their fossil record is well studied from their origin around 40 Myr ago, which makes them a well-suited group to study broadscale patterns of evolution with a deep-time perspective. The general aim of this doctoral thesis is to integrate phylogenetic, paleontological, morphological, and ecological information to identify the drivers of squirrels’evolution. Using recently developed methodological approaches, this thesis investigates the macroecological patterns and morphological evolution in relation to changes in the environmental conditions. In order to combine morphological data from extinct and extant species, and considering that most of the known fossil record of squirrels consists on isolated teeth, this thesis focuses on the study of morphological evolution of teeth. Particularly, the fourth lower premolar (p4), which shows interspecific morphological variation...