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Updated: May 10, 2026
07:26
Systematic Assessment of Mammalian Skull Specimens for Dental and Temporomandibular Joint Pathology
Published on: August 22, 2022
Skull shape evolution in durophagous carnivorans
Borja Figueirido1, Zhijie Jack Tseng, Alberto Martín-Serra
1Departamento de Ecología y Geología de la Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain. Borja.figueirido@uma.es
Summary
Carnivorans evolved similar skull shapes for hard diets, like bone-cracking and bamboo-feeding, but used different evolutionary paths. Mandibles show more dietary adaptation flexibility than crania.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Comparative anatomy
- Paleontology
Background:
- Convergent evolution leads to similar traits in unrelated species.
- Durophagy, or hard-object feeding, presents unique selective pressures.
- Carnivoran skull evolution is influenced by diet and evolutionary history.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate convergent evolution of skull shape in durophagous carnivorans.
- Identify shared adaptations for durophagy across different carnivoran families.
- Determine the evolutionary plasticity of cranial versus mandibular shape.
Main Methods:
- Geometric morphometrics applied to living and extinct carnivoran species.
- Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to analyze skull shape variation.
- Discriminant analysis and ancestral state reconstruction to infer evolutionary pathways.
Main Results:
- Durophagous carnivorans, despite different diets (bone vs. bamboo), share skull shape similarities.
- Distinct evolutionary pathways toward durophagy were identified among different carnivoran families.
- Mandibles exhibit greater shape plasticity for specific diets (bamboo/bone) compared to crania.
- Cranium and mandible shapes are highly integrated across Carnivora.
Conclusions:
- Convergent evolution shapes carnivoran skulls for durophagy, but through diverse evolutionary routes.
- The mandible demonstrates higher evolutionary plasticity than the cranium in adapting to diet.
- Cranio-mandibular integration is a key feature of carnivoran skull evolution, potentially influenced by selection over internal constraints.
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