Evolutionary Relationships among Rodents

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

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2. Origin and Eutherian Affinities of Rodentia

   1. The Order Rodentia: Major Questions on Their Evolutionary Origin, Relationships and Suprafamilial Systematics

      • Jean-Louis Hartenberger

      Pages 1-33

   2. Possible Phylogenetic Relationship of Asiatic Eurymylids and Rodents, with Comments on Mimotonids

      • Li Chuan-kuei, Ting Su-yin

      Pages 35-58

   3. Cranial Evidence for Rodent Affinities

      • Michael J. Novacek

      Pages 59-81

   4. Rodent and Lagomorph Morphotype Adaptations, Origins, and Relationships: Some Postcranial Attributes Analyzed

      • Frederick S. Szalay

      Pages 83-132

   5. Enamel Structure of Early Mammals and Its Role in Evaluating Relationships among Rodents

      • Ashok Sahni

      Pages 133-150

   6. Reconstruction of Ancestral Cranioskeletal Features in the Order Lagomorpha

      • Nieves Lopez Martinez

      Pages 151-189

   7. A Phylogeny of Rodentia and Other Eutherian Orders: Parsimony Analysis Utilizing Amino Acid Sequences of Alpha and Beta Hemoglobin Chains

      • Jeheskel Shoshani, Morris Goodman, John Czelusniak, Gerhard Braunitzer

      Pages 191-210

   8. Superordinal Affinities of Rodentia Studied by Sequence Analysis of Eye Lens Protein

      • Wilfried W. de Jong

      Pages 211-226

   9. Superordinal and Intraordinal Affinities of Rodents: Developmental Evidence from the Dentition and Placentation

      • W. Patrick Luckett

      Pages 227-276

3. Phyletic Relationships Among Rodent Higher Categories

   1. Possible Evolutionary Relationships among Eocene and Lower Oligocene Rodents of Asia, Europe and North America

      • Monique Vianey-Liaud

      Pages 277-309

   2. Cranial Foramina of Rodents

      • John H. Wahlert

      Pages 311-332

   3. Phylogenetic Analysis of Middle Ear Features in Fossil and Living Rodents

      • René Lavocat, Jean-Pierre Parent

      Pages 333-354

   4. Systematic Value of the Carotid Arterial Pattern in Rodents

      • Jørgen Bugge

      Pages 355-379

   5. Homologies of Molar Cusps and Crests, and Their Bearing on Assessments of Rodent Phylogeny

      • P. M. Butler

      Pages 381-401

   6. Evolutionary Trends in the Enamel of Rodent Incisors

      • Wighart von Koenigswald

      Pages 403-422

   7. Rodent Macromolecular Systematics

      • Vincent M. Sarich

      Pages 423-452

4. Specific Problems of Intraordinal Relationships

   1. Reproductive and Chromosomal Characters of Ctenodactylids as a Key to Their Evolutionary Relationships

      • Wilma George

      Pages 453-474

   2. The Relationships, Origin and Dispersal of the Hystricognathous Rodents

      • Albert E. Wood

      Pages 475-513

   3. Myology of Hystricognath Rodents: An Analysis of Form, Function, and Phylogeny

      • Charles A. Woods, John W. Hermanson

      Pages 515-548

The order Rodentia is the most abundant and successful group of mammals, and it has been a focal point of attention for compar­ ative and evolutionary biologists for many years. In addition, rodents are the most commonly used experimental mammals for bio­ medical research, and they have played a central role in investi­ gations of the genetic and molecular mechanisms of speciation in mammals. During recent decades, a tremendous amount of new data from various aspects of the biology of living and fossil rodents has been accumulated by specialists from different disciplines, ranging from molecular biology to paleontology. Paradoxically, our understanding of the possible evolutionary relationships among different rodent families, as well as the possible affinities of rodents with other eutherian mammals, has not kept pace with this information "explosion. " This abundance of new biological data has not been incorporated into a broad synthesis of rodent phylo­ geny, in part because of the difficulty for any single student of rodent evolution to evaluate the phylogenetic significance of new findings from such diverse disciplines as paleontology, embryology, comparative anatomy, molecular biology, and cytogenetics. The origin and subsequent radiation of the order Rodentia were based primarily on the acquisition of a key character complex: specializations of the incisors, cheek teeth, and associated mus­ culoskeletal features of the jaws and skull for gnawing and chewing.

• Adaptation
• biology
• embryology
• evolution
• phylogeny
• the origin

• School of Medicine, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, USA

  W. Patrick Luckett

• Institute of Evolutionary Sciences, University of Montpellier II, Montpellier, France

  Jean-Louis Hartenberger

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