Comparative analysis of forelimb musculature in Laonastes aenigmamus (Rodentia: Diatomyidae)

P.P. Gambaryan, O.V. Zherebtsova and A.A. Perepelova

Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS, 2013, 317(3): 226–245 · https://doi.org/10.31610/trudyzin/2013.317.3.226

Full text

Abstract

The forelimb musculature of the relict rodent Laonastes aenigmamus Jenkins et al., 2005 (Diatomyidae) was studied for the first time. Ctenodactylus gundi and Chinchilla lanigera were also first included in the morphological analysis for comparative purposes. These species belong to different infraorders, Ctenodactylomorphi and Hystricognathi, the members of which could be closely related to Laonastes according to available hypotheses. The peculiar features of the examined muscles, like the more primitive topography of the m. rhomboideus, the unusual insertion of the m. endopectoralis and absence of the m. flexor digitorum sublimis, were revealed in Laonastes. In addition, a number of common characters in the structure of the locomotor musculature were also observed in Laonastes and Ctenodactylus: a single undifferentiated condition of the m. trapezius; the muscular origin of the m. sternomastoideus; the unusual attachments of the m. latissimus dorsi and the unique origin of the m. dorsoepitrochlearis unnoted in other rodents. The majority of these features are probably indicative of more archaic organisation. The obtained results support the hypothesis of the close affinity between Diatomyidae and Ctenodactylidae proposed on the basis of the moleculargenetic and some morphological data.

Key words

Chinchilla lanigera, Ctenodactylus gundi, forelimb musculature, Laonastes aenigmamus, rodents

Submitted May 12, 2013 · Accepted September 2, 2013 · Published September 23, 2013

References

Alezais H. 1901–1902. Étude anatomique du Cabaye (Cavia cabaya). Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, 37: 102–126; 38: 259–275; 624–648.

Bryant M.D. 1945. Phylogeny of the Nearctic Sciuridae. American Midland Naturalist, 33(2): 257–390. https://doi.org/10.2307/2421337

Dawson M.R., Marivaux L., Li Ch., Beard K.Ch. and Métais G. 2006. Laonastes and the “Lazarus effect” in recent mammals. Science, 311: 1456–1458. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1124187

Dieterlen F. 2005. Suborder Hystricomorpha. Infraorder Ctenodactylomorphi. In: D.E. Wilson and D.A.M. Reeder (Eds.). Mammal species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. Vol. 2. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore: 1536–1537.

Dzerzhinskyi F.Y. 2005. Sravnitel’naya anatomya pozvonochnych zhivotnych [Comparative anatomy of the vertebrate animals]. Aspekt Press, Moscow, 304 p. [In Russian].

Gambaryan P.P. 1960. Prisposobitel’nye osobennosti organov dvizheniya royushchikh mlekopitayushchikh [Adaptive features of the locomotor organs in fossorial mammals]. Izdatel’stvo AN Armyanskoi SSR, Erevan, 195 p. [In Russian].

Green E.C. 1935. Anatomy of the rat. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series, 27: 1–370. https://doi.org/10.2307/1005513

Hautier L. and Saksiri S. 2009. Masticatory muscle architecture in the Laotian rock rat Laonastes aenigmamus (Mammalia, Rodentia): new insights into the evolution of hystricognathy. Journal of Anatomy, 215: 401–410. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7580.2009.01130.x

Howell A.B. 1926. Anatomy of the wood rat. The Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 230 p.

Huchon D., Chevret P., Jordan U., Kilpatrick C.W., Ranwez V., Jenkins P.D., Brosius J. and Schmitz J. 2007. Multiple molecular evidences for a living mammalian fossil. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 104: 7495–7499. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0701289104

Jenkins P.D., Kilpatrick C.W., Robinson M.F. and Timmins R.J. 2005. Morphological and molecular investigations of a new family, genus and species of rodent (Mammalia: Rodentia: Hystricognatha) from Lao PDR. Systematics Biodiversity, 2(4): 419–454. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1477200004001549

Jouffroy F.-K. 1971. Mammifères. Musculature des members. Traité de Zoologie. Anatomie, Systématique, Biologie, 16(3): 1–476.

Olborth H. 1964. Die Anatomie des Bewegungapparates der Chinchilla (postcraniales Bereich). Anatomische Anzeiger, 114: 302–327.

Parsons F.G. 1894. On the myology of the sciuromorphine and hystricomorphine rodents. Proceedings of the Zoological Society, London: 251–296.

Rinker G.C. 1954. The comparative mycology of the mammalian genera Sigmodon, Oryzomys, Neotoma and Peromyacus (Cricetinae), with remarks of their intergeneric relationships. University of Michigan Press, 124 p.

Woods C.A. and Kilpatrick C.W. 2005. Suborder Hystricomorpha. Infraorder Hystricognathi. In: D.E. Wilson and D.A.M. Reeder (Eds.). Mammal species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. Vol. 2. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore: 1538–1600.