Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction to Carnivora
- 2 Phylogeny of the Carnivora and Carnivoramorpha, and the use of the fossil record to enhance understanding of evolutionary transformations
- 3 Phylogeny of the Viverridae and ‘Viverrid-like’ feliforms
- 4 Molecular and morphological evidence for Ailuridae and a review of its genera
- 5 The influence of character correlations on phylogenetic analyses: a case study of the carnivoran cranium
- 6 What's the difference? A multiphasic allometric analysis of fossil and living lions
- 7 Evolution in Carnivora: identifying a morphological bias
- 8 The biogeography of carnivore ecomorphology
- 9 Comparative ecomorphology and biogeography of Herpestidae and Viverridae (Carnivora) in Africa and Asia
- 10 Ecomorphological analysis of carnivore guilds in the Eocene through Miocene of Laurasia
- 11 Ecomorphology of North American Eocene carnivores: evidence for competition between Carnivorans and Creodonts
- 12 Morphometric analysis of cranial morphology in pinnipeds (Mammalia, Carnivora): convergence, ecology, ontogeny, and dimorphism
- 13 Tiptoeing through the trophics: geographic variation in carnivoran locomotor ecomorphology in relation to environment
- 14 Interpreting sabretooth cat (Carnivora; Felidae; Machairodontinae) postcranial morphology in light of scaling patterns in felids
- 15 Cranial mechanics of mammalian carnivores: recent advances using a finite element approach
- Index
- Plates
- References
12 - Morphometric analysis of cranial morphology in pinnipeds (Mammalia, Carnivora): convergence, ecology, ontogeny, and dimorphism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2014
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction to Carnivora
- 2 Phylogeny of the Carnivora and Carnivoramorpha, and the use of the fossil record to enhance understanding of evolutionary transformations
- 3 Phylogeny of the Viverridae and ‘Viverrid-like’ feliforms
- 4 Molecular and morphological evidence for Ailuridae and a review of its genera
- 5 The influence of character correlations on phylogenetic analyses: a case study of the carnivoran cranium
- 6 What's the difference? A multiphasic allometric analysis of fossil and living lions
- 7 Evolution in Carnivora: identifying a morphological bias
- 8 The biogeography of carnivore ecomorphology
- 9 Comparative ecomorphology and biogeography of Herpestidae and Viverridae (Carnivora) in Africa and Asia
- 10 Ecomorphological analysis of carnivore guilds in the Eocene through Miocene of Laurasia
- 11 Ecomorphology of North American Eocene carnivores: evidence for competition between Carnivorans and Creodonts
- 12 Morphometric analysis of cranial morphology in pinnipeds (Mammalia, Carnivora): convergence, ecology, ontogeny, and dimorphism
- 13 Tiptoeing through the trophics: geographic variation in carnivoran locomotor ecomorphology in relation to environment
- 14 Interpreting sabretooth cat (Carnivora; Felidae; Machairodontinae) postcranial morphology in light of scaling patterns in felids
- 15 Cranial mechanics of mammalian carnivores: recent advances using a finite element approach
- Index
- Plates
- References
Summary
Introduction
Pinnipeds are a clade of secondarily aquatic arctoid carnivorans, including 34 extant species dispersed across most of the world's oceans. Extant species are separated into three families (Figure 12.1): Odobenidae (walruses, 1 species), Phocidae (seals, 19 species), and Otariidae (sea lions and fur seals, 14 species) and display a wide range of ecological diversity (Reeves et al., 2002). Predominantly, pinnipeds are generalist feeders. They are opportunistic, and their diets may vary annually, between colonies and between individuals within a colony (King, 1983; Sinclair and Zeppelin, 2002; Williams et al., 2007). However, several species have evolved more specialist feeding techniques: (1) Odobenus rosmarus is a suction feeder, using powerful facial musculature to produce forces large enough to extract molluscs from their shells (Adam and Berta, 2002); Erignathus barbatus (Phocidae) also uses suction feeding (King, 1983; Marshall et al., 2008); (2) Lobodon carcinophagus (Phocidae) is a filter feeder; it uses multicuspidate teeth to sieve out krill as water is expelled from the mouth; (3) Hyrdrurga leptonyx (Phocidae) feeds on large, warm-blooded prey such as penguins and seal pups (Adam and Berta, 2002).
Reproductive strategies of the pinnipeds are also diverse. Otariids are universally dimorphic with large harems. Their young are weaned over long periods of up to 2 years whilst learning to forage (Kovacs and Lavigne, 1992; Schulz and Bowen, 2004). On the other hand, phocid young are relatively precocial (4–50 days weaning) and learn foraging skills after leaving their mothers. Phocids also show a diversity of mating strategies and degree of dimorphism (Schulz and Bowen, 2004). It has been hypothesised that this shorter time spent on land has allowed phocids to exploit a broader range of habitats, including polar regions (Kovacs and Lavigne, 1992; Schulz and Bowen, 2005). Odobenids show extremely long lactation times of three years. During this period, young walruses often accompany mothers on foraging trips.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Carnivoran EvolutionNew Views on Phylogeny, Form and Function, pp. 342 - 373Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
References
and (2002). Evolution of prey capture strategies and diet in the Pinnipedimorpha (Mammalia, Carnivora). Oryctos, 4, 83–107.Google Scholar
, , , et al. (2006). Pinniped phylogeny and a new hypothesis for their origin and dispersal. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 41, 345–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (2001). Evolutionary biology of pinnipeds. In Secondary Adaptation of Tetrapods to Life in Water, ed. and . Munich: Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, pp. 235–60.Google Scholar
, and (1989). Skeleton of the oldest known pinniped, Enaliarctos mealsi. Science, 244, 60–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
and (2000). Are pinnipeds functionally different from fissiped carnivores? The importance of phylogenetic comparative analyses. Evolution, 54, 1011–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (2001). Flippers versus feet: comparative trends in aquatic and non-aquatic carnivores. Journal of Animal Ecology, 70, 386–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1998). Cranial morphometrics of the southern fur seals Arctocephalus forsteri and A. pusillus (Carnivora: Otariidae). Australian Journal of Zoology, 46, 67–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2002). Geographic variation in skull morphology of adult steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus). Marine Mammal Science, 18, 206–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2003). Fur seals and sea lions (Otariidae): identification of species and taxonomic review. Systematics and Biodiversity, 1, 339–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (2002). Geographic variation in skull characters of fur seals and sea lions (family Otariidae). Australian Journal of Zoology, 50, 415–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (2005). Size and shape sexual dimorphism in the skull of the South American fur seal, Arctocephalus australis (Zimmerman, 1783) (Carnivora: Otariidae). Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals, 4, 27–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (2003). Pinnipedimorph evolutionary biogeography. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 279, 32–76.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1985). Phylogenies and the comparative method. American Naturalist, 125, 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (2006). How seals divide up the world: environment, life history, and conservation. Oecologia, 150, 318–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , and (2005). Molecular phylogeny of the Carnivora (Mammalia): assessing the impact of increased sampling on resolving enigmatic relationships. Systematic Biology, 54, 317–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, and (2001). PAST: palaeontological statistics software package for education and data analysis. Palaeontologia Electronica, 4, 9 pp.Google Scholar
and (1992). Maternal investment in otariid seals and walruses. Canadian Journal of Zoology – Revue Canadienne de Zoologie, 70, 1953–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1999). Generalizing and extending the eigenshape method of shape space visualization and analysis. Paleobiology, 25, 107–38.Google Scholar
, and (2008). Feeding kinematics, suction and hydraulic jetting capabilities in bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus). Journal of Experimental Biology, 211, 699–708.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2004). COMPARE, version 4.6b: computer programmes for the statistical analysis of comparative data. Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.Google Scholar
(1982). Phocid phylogeny and dispersal. Annals of the South African Museum, 89, 175–213.Google Scholar
and (2006). Morphologika: tools for statistical shape analysis. Hull: York Medical School. .
(1976). Adaptive evolution of sea lions and walruses. Systematic Zoology, 25, 375–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (2009). A semi-aquatic mammalian carnivore from the Miocene epoch and origin of Pinnipedia. Nature, 458, 1021–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
and (2008). A comparative description of dimorphism in skull ontogeny of Arctocephalus australis, Callorhinus ursinus and Otaria byronia (Carnivora: Otariidae). Journal of Mammalogy, 89, 336–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , et al. (2006). Evidence from nuclear DNA sequences sheds light on the phylogenetic relationships of Pinnipedia: single origin with affinity to Musteloidea. ZoologicalScience, 23, 125–46.Google Scholar
and (2004). Pinniped lactation strategies: evaluation of data on maternal and offspring life history traits. Marine Mammal Science, 20, 86–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (2005). The evolution of lactation strategies in pinnipeds: a phylogenetic analysis. Ecological Monographs, 75, 159–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (2002). Seasonal and spatial differences in diet in the western stock of Stellar sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus). Journal of Mammalogy, 83, 973–90.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2007). Evolution of marine mammals: back to the sea after 300 million years. Anatomical Record, 290, 514–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , et al. (2007). Seasonal variability in otariid energetics: implications for the effects of predators on localized prey resources. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, 80, 433–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , et al. (2001). Phylogenetic relationships within the eared seals (Otariidae: Carnivora): implications for the historical biogeography of the family. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 21, 270–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1988). Evidence from flipper structure for a single origin of pinnipeds. Nature, 334, 427–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , and (2004). Geometric Morphometrics for Biologists: A Primer. Boston, MA: Elsevier Academic Press, 416 pp.Google Scholar
- 11
- Cited by