Comparative Biology and Evolutionary Relationships of Tree Shrews

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

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2. Systematics

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. The Suggested Evolutionary Relationships and Classification of Tree Shrews

      • W. Patrick Luckett

      Pages 3-31

3. Cranioskeletal System and Dentition

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 33-33

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   2. Cranioskeletal Features in Tupaiids and Selected Eutheria as Phylogenetic Evidence

      • Michael J. Novacek

      Pages 35-93

   3. Tupaiid Affinities: The Evidence of the Carotid Arteries and Cranial Skeleton

      • M. Cartmill, R. D. E. MacPhee

      Pages 95-132

   4. Evolution and Diversification of the Archonta in an Arboreal Milieu

      • Frederick S. Szalay, Gerrell Drawhorn

      Pages 133-169

   5. The Tupaiid Dentition

      • Percy M. Butler

      Pages 171-204

   6. Siwalik Fossil Tree Shrews

      • Louis L. Jacobs

      Pages 205-216

4. Nervous System

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 217-217

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   2. The Nervous System of the Tupaiidae: Its Bearing on Phyletic Relationships

      • C. B. G. Campbell

      Pages 219-242

5. Reproductive System

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 243-243

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   2. The Use of Reproductive and Developmental Features in Assessing Tupaiid Affinities

      • W. Patrick Luckett

      Pages 245-266

6. Molecular Evolution

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 267-267

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   2. Molecular Evidence for the Affinities of Tupaiidae

      • Howard Dene, Morris Goodman, William Prychodko, Genji Matsuda

      Pages 269-291

   3. Tupaiid and Archonta Phylogeny: The Macromolecular Evidence

      • J. E. Cronin, V. M. Sarich

      Pages 293-312

7. Back Matter

   Pages 313-314

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Tree shrews are small-bodied, scansorial, squirrel-like mammals that occupy a wide range of arboreal, semi-arboreal, and forest floor niches in Southeast Asia and adjacent islands. Comparative aspects of tree shrew biology have been the subject of extensive investigations during the past two decades. These studies were initiated in part because of the widely accepted belief that tupaiids are primitive primates, and, as such, might provide valuable insight into the evolutionary origin of complex patterns of primate behavior, locomotion, neurobiology, and reproduction. During the same period, there has been a renewed interest in the methodology of phylogenetic reconstruction and in the use of data from a variety of biological disciplines to test or formulate hypotheses of evolutionary relationships. In particular, interest in the com­ parative and systematic biology of mammals has focused on analysis of phy­ logenetic relationships among Primates and a search for their closest relatives. Assessment of the possible primate affinities of tree shrews has comprised an important part of these studies, and a considerable amount of dental, cranio­ skeletal, neuroanatomical, reproductive, developmental, and molecular evi­ dence has been marshalled to either corroborate or refute hypotheses of a special tupaiid-primate relationship. These contrasting viewpoints have re­ sulted from differing interpretations of the basic data, as well as alternative approaches to the evolutionary analysis of data.

• biology
• evolution
• mammals
• primates
• reproduction

• Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, USA

  W. Patrick Luckett

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