Testing the Role of Cursorial Specializations as Adaptive Key Innovations in Paleocene-Eocene Ungulates of North America

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Abstract

Episodes of rapid faunal turnover in the fossil record are often used to examine processes driving macroevolutionary changes, such as competitive exclusion. The sudden appearance in the earliest Eocene of North America of artiodactyls and perissodactyls, and subsequent decline of endemic “condylarths” constitutes such an episode. It has been suggested that the specializations for high speed locomotion (cursoriality) that are present in artiodactyls and perissodactyls were key innovations of these orders accounting for their success in the Eocene and onwards. A quantitative geometric morphometric analysis of distal femoral articular morphology was used to examine changes in locomotor specializations in North American ungulates across the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. “Condylarths” were found to have displayed a broad range of locomotor adaptions, including cursoriality. The early Eocene had the broadest disparity in terms of taxonomic and locomotor contributions to morphological diversity. Changes in locomotor variety were associated with the disappearance of arboreal taxa, primarily “condylarths.” The initial impact of artiodactyls and perissodactyls in North America on existing locomotor diversity was limited and does not support a competitive exclusion hypothesis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)453-463
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Mammalian Evolution
Volume24
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2017
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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