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- Title
Dental variation in a collection of Lemmiscus curtatus from the northern plains of southern Saskatchewan: implications for morphological evolution.
- Authors
BELL, CHRISTOPHER J.; JASS, CHRISTOPHER N.; BURROUGHS, ROBERT W.
- Abstract
We provide the first documentation of morphological variation in the lower first molar (m1) of Lemmiscus curtatus from southern Canada. A total of 370 specimens were obtained from owl pellets taken from 4 localities in southern Saskatchewan. The 4 most common morphotypes are, in order of descending relative abundance, molars with 5 closed triangles and a well-developed but widely open sixth triangle, molars with 5 closed triangles and a sixth triangle that is pinched at the confluence of the anterior cap, molars with 5 closed triangles and incipient closure of the sixth triangle from the anterior cap, and specimens with 6 closed triangles. As is true of other modern populations of L. curtatus, the samples from Saskatchewan include no morphotypes with only 4 closed triangles. This collection is notable for the relatively high proportion of specimens with pinched, incipient, or full closure of a sixth triangle on the ml, and it also highlights the complex dynamics of dental evolution in arvicoline rodents.
- Subjects
SASKATCHEWAN; CANADA; BIRD pellets; PLAINS; TRIANGLES; BIOLOGICAL evolution; MOLARS
- Publication
Western North American Naturalist, 2019, Vol 79, Issue 2, p219
- ISSN
1527-0904
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3398/064.079.0208