A Miopetaurista (Rodentia, Sciuridae) cranium from the Middle Miocene of Bavaria (Germany) and brain evolution in flying squirrels

Flying squirrels (Sciurinae, Pteromyini) are the most successful group of gliding mammals. However, their fossil record mostly consists of isolated dental remains that provide very limited insights into their palaeobiology and evolution. The first skeleton of a fossil flying squirrel, belonging to t...

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Autores: Grau-Camats, Montserrat|||0000-0002-1481-7033, Bertrand, Ornella C.|||0000-0003-3461-3908, Prieto, Jérôme|||0000-0002-7485-9112, López-Torres, Sergi|||0000-0002-0046-1013, Silcox, Mary T.|||0000-0002-4174-9435, Casanovas i Vilar, Isaac|||0000-0001-7092-9622
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:264443
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/264443
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1002/spp2.1454
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Rodentia
Sciuridae
Pteromyini
Cranial morphology
Endocast
Encephalization quotient
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spelling A Miopetaurista (Rodentia, Sciuridae) cranium from the Middle Miocene of Bavaria (Germany) and brain evolution in flying squirrelsGrau-Camats, Montserrat|||0000-0002-1481-7033Bertrand, Ornella C.|||0000-0003-3461-3908Prieto, Jérôme|||0000-0002-7485-9112López-Torres, Sergi|||0000-0002-0046-1013Silcox, Mary T.|||0000-0002-4174-9435Casanovas i Vilar, Isaac|||0000-0001-7092-9622RodentiaSciuridaePteromyiniCranial morphologyEndocastEncephalization quotientFlying squirrels (Sciurinae, Pteromyini) are the most successful group of gliding mammals. However, their fossil record mostly consists of isolated dental remains that provide very limited insights into their palaeobiology and evolution. The first skeleton of a fossil flying squirrel, belonging to the species Miopetaurista neogrivensis, has been described only recently. It presents all the diagnostic gliding-related postcranial features of its extant relatives and shows that this group has undergone very little morphological change for almost 12 myr. However, the associated cranium is badly crushed, and particular details of the cranial morphology cannot be described. Here, we describe a well-preserved cranium of the closely related Miopetaurista crusafonti from 12.5-12.0 Ma from Bavaria (Germany). Its cranial morphology is found to be almost identical to extant large flying squirrels, even in details such as the position of the foramina. The virtual endocast also shows close affinities to living large flying squirrels in morphology and in the relative volume of different brain regions, showing diagnostic features such as the size reduction of petrosal lobules and olfactory bulbs. However, the encephalization quotient (EQ) and neocortical ratio are lower than observed in extant flying squirrels. EQ is known to increase through time in squirrels, but might also be related to locomotion, given that arboreal and gliding squirrels display higher EQs than terrestrial ones. Because Miopetaurista was certainly a glider, its comparatively lower EQ and neocortical size support the existence of an independent trend of increasing EQ and neocortical complexity in this flying squirrel subclade. 22022-01-0120222022-01-01Articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501AMhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_ab4af688f83e57aainfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://ddd.uab.cat/record/264443https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1002/spp2.1454reponame:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UABinstname:Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaInglésengAgencia Estatal de Investigación https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 PID2020-117289GB-I00Agencia Estatal de Investigación https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 CGL2016-76431-PAgencia Estatal de Investigación https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 CGL2017-82654-PEuropean Commission https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 792611Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003329 RYC-2013-12470Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003030 2017/SGR-116open accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Aquest material està protegit per drets d'autor i/o drets afins. Podeu utilitzar aquest material en funció del que permet la legislació de drets d'autor i drets afins d'aplicació al vostre cas. Per a d'altres usos heu d'obtenir permís del(s) titular(s) de drets.https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ddd.uab.cat:2644432026-06-06T12:50:31Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv A Miopetaurista (Rodentia, Sciuridae) cranium from the Middle Miocene of Bavaria (Germany) and brain evolution in flying squirrels
title A Miopetaurista (Rodentia, Sciuridae) cranium from the Middle Miocene of Bavaria (Germany) and brain evolution in flying squirrels
spellingShingle A Miopetaurista (Rodentia, Sciuridae) cranium from the Middle Miocene of Bavaria (Germany) and brain evolution in flying squirrels
Grau-Camats, Montserrat|||0000-0002-1481-7033
Rodentia
Sciuridae
Pteromyini
Cranial morphology
Endocast
Encephalization quotient
title_short A Miopetaurista (Rodentia, Sciuridae) cranium from the Middle Miocene of Bavaria (Germany) and brain evolution in flying squirrels
title_full A Miopetaurista (Rodentia, Sciuridae) cranium from the Middle Miocene of Bavaria (Germany) and brain evolution in flying squirrels
title_fullStr A Miopetaurista (Rodentia, Sciuridae) cranium from the Middle Miocene of Bavaria (Germany) and brain evolution in flying squirrels
title_full_unstemmed A Miopetaurista (Rodentia, Sciuridae) cranium from the Middle Miocene of Bavaria (Germany) and brain evolution in flying squirrels
title_sort A Miopetaurista (Rodentia, Sciuridae) cranium from the Middle Miocene of Bavaria (Germany) and brain evolution in flying squirrels
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Grau-Camats, Montserrat|||0000-0002-1481-7033
Bertrand, Ornella C.|||0000-0003-3461-3908
Prieto, Jérôme|||0000-0002-7485-9112
López-Torres, Sergi|||0000-0002-0046-1013
Silcox, Mary T.|||0000-0002-4174-9435
Casanovas i Vilar, Isaac|||0000-0001-7092-9622
author Grau-Camats, Montserrat|||0000-0002-1481-7033
author_facet Grau-Camats, Montserrat|||0000-0002-1481-7033
Bertrand, Ornella C.|||0000-0003-3461-3908
Prieto, Jérôme|||0000-0002-7485-9112
López-Torres, Sergi|||0000-0002-0046-1013
Silcox, Mary T.|||0000-0002-4174-9435
Casanovas i Vilar, Isaac|||0000-0001-7092-9622
author_role author
author2 Bertrand, Ornella C.|||0000-0003-3461-3908
Prieto, Jérôme|||0000-0002-7485-9112
López-Torres, Sergi|||0000-0002-0046-1013
Silcox, Mary T.|||0000-0002-4174-9435
Casanovas i Vilar, Isaac|||0000-0001-7092-9622
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Rodentia
Sciuridae
Pteromyini
Cranial morphology
Endocast
Encephalization quotient
topic Rodentia
Sciuridae
Pteromyini
Cranial morphology
Endocast
Encephalization quotient
description Flying squirrels (Sciurinae, Pteromyini) are the most successful group of gliding mammals. However, their fossil record mostly consists of isolated dental remains that provide very limited insights into their palaeobiology and evolution. The first skeleton of a fossil flying squirrel, belonging to the species Miopetaurista neogrivensis, has been described only recently. It presents all the diagnostic gliding-related postcranial features of its extant relatives and shows that this group has undergone very little morphological change for almost 12 myr. However, the associated cranium is badly crushed, and particular details of the cranial morphology cannot be described. Here, we describe a well-preserved cranium of the closely related Miopetaurista crusafonti from 12.5-12.0 Ma from Bavaria (Germany). Its cranial morphology is found to be almost identical to extant large flying squirrels, even in details such as the position of the foramina. The virtual endocast also shows close affinities to living large flying squirrels in morphology and in the relative volume of different brain regions, showing diagnostic features such as the size reduction of petrosal lobules and olfactory bulbs. However, the encephalization quotient (EQ) and neocortical ratio are lower than observed in extant flying squirrels. EQ is known to increase through time in squirrels, but might also be related to locomotion, given that arboreal and gliding squirrels display higher EQs than terrestrial ones. Because Miopetaurista was certainly a glider, its comparatively lower EQ and neocortical size support the existence of an independent trend of increasing EQ and neocortical complexity in this flying squirrel subclade.
publishDate 2022
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2
2022-01-01
2022
2022-01-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
AM
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_ab4af688f83e57aa
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://ddd.uab.cat/record/264443
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1002/spp2.1454
url https://ddd.uab.cat/record/264443
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1002/spp2.1454
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Agencia Estatal de Investigación https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 PID2020-117289GB-I00
Agencia Estatal de Investigación https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 CGL2016-76431-P
Agencia Estatal de Investigación https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 CGL2017-82654-P
European Commission https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 792611
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003329 RYC-2013-12470
Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003030 2017/SGR-116
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
instname:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
instname_str Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
reponame_str Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
collection Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
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