Abstract
We studied the enlargement of the upper third molar (M3), with respect to the upper second molar in sigmodontine rodents, the largest subfamily of living cricetids. M3 is enlarged in extant and extinct members of at least six tribes (Andinomyini, Euneomyini, Oryzomyini, Phyllotini, Reithrodontini and Sigmodontini), all of them also sharing hypsodonty, planate crowns and overall dental simplification in the context of Sigmodontinae. Enlargement is expressed in four ways, including simplification or modest complication of occlusal design on a single plane. M3 enlargement in sigmodontines is primarily associated with increasing herbivory rather than strictly with phylogeny, and thus presents a classic example of evolutionary convergence.
Acknowledgments
This contribution emerged from many years of consultation of collections and we are indebted for access or loans to the successive curators of several institutions, including, among others, the American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY, USA), the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (Berkeley, CA, USA), the Colección de Mamíferos del Museu de Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa (Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil) and the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (Quito, Ecuador). R.A. Martin greatly improved the content and the English of this contribution, through various meticulous critical readings. D. Voglino kindly guided us in the design aspects of Figure 1 and P.E. Ortiz nicely provided us pictures of †Tafimys specimens. We thank one anonymous reviewer for the constructive comments made on this contribution and also A. Candela for valuable suggestions. Funds for this research were derived from Agencia (grant) PICT 2014-1039.
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