A Brief History of South American Metatherians : Evolutionary Contexts and Intercontinental Dispersals PDF
by Francisco Goin, Michael Woodburne, Ana Natalia Zimicz, Gabriel M. Martin, Laura Chornogubsky
Part of the Springer Earth System Sciences series
Description
This book summarizes major aspects of the evolution of South American metatherians, including their epistemologic, phylogenetic, biogeographic, faunal, tectonic, paleoclimatic, and metabolic contexts. A brief overview of the evolution of each major South American lineage ("Ameridelphia", Sparassodonta, Didelphimorphia, Paucituberculata, Microbiotheria, and Polydolopimorphia) is provided. It is argued that due to physiological constraints, metatherian evolution closely followed the conditions imposed by global temperatures. In general terms, during the Paleocene and the early Eocene multiple radiations of metatherian lineages occurred, with many adaptive types exploiting insectivorous, frugivorous, and omnivorous adaptive zones. In turn, a mixture of generalized and specialized types, the latter mainly exploiting carnivorous and granivorous-folivorous adaptive zones, characterized the second half of the Cenozoic. In both periods, climate was the critical driver of their radiation andturnovers.
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Download - Immediately Available
- Format:PDF
- Publisher:Springer Netherlands
- Publication Date:16/10/2015
- Category:
- ISBN:9789401774208
Other Formats
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Information
-
Download - Immediately Available
- Format:PDF
- Publisher:Springer Netherlands
- Publication Date:16/10/2015
- Category:
- ISBN:9789401774208
