Multi-level analysis of morphological variation in the vertebral column of lagomorph mammals
Date
2025
Authors
Taewcharoen, N.
Gunji, M.
Norris, R.
Sherratt, E.
Editors
Rogers, R.
Montgomery, S.
Montgomery, S.
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Journal article
Citation
Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 2025; 38(11):1533-1547
Statement of Responsibility
Nuttakorn Taewcharoen, Megu Gunji, Rachel Norris, Emma Sherratt
Conference Name
Abstract
Characterizing morphological variation along the vertebral column of mammals is commonly investigated at a broad phylogenetic scale, leaving within-species variation understudied due to the requirement of larger sample sizes. This leads to a knowledge gap of how variation within species relates to morphological diversity among species. Here, we overcome these limitations and examine the morphological variation at the within-species level in the vertebral column of 4 species-equivalent groups of rabbits and hares. We then expanded to the among-species levels of the family Leporidae, the order Lagomorpha, and broadly among terrestrial placentals. We sampled 9 vertebrae along the vertebral column of each specimen. Using a geometric morphometric approach, we calculated the Procrustes variance of vertebrae shapes and used this as an index for the extent of morphological variation of each vertebra along the vertebral column, which we call the profile. We find that the profile of morphological variation along the column differs among species and between phylogenetic levels; among-species variation is not simply a scaled-up profile of the within-species level. We highlight that by adopting the multi-level analysis, we can better understand how the mammalian vertebral column can evolve.
School/Discipline
Dissertation Note
Provenance
Description
Access Status
Rights
© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Evolutionary Biology. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site-for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com