Abstract
Cartesian transformation, applied as a landmark morphometric method, is used to investigate some of the evolutionary shape changes leading to the skulls of the modern rhinoceroses. The early Oligocene genusSubhyracodon serves as the primitive shape from which the extant genera (Dicerorhinus, Rhinocerso, Diceros, andCeratotherium) have been transformed. Coordinate data for 21 landmarks, defined in lateral view, are analyzed by the computer program Thinplate Splines. Each of the four transformations are interpreted separately as shape change fromSubhyracodon. Computed results forRhinoceros are also compared with previous results obtained by visual interpretation (the classic method). Among the extant genera,Ceratotherium andRhinoceros have the most derived shapes and are opposites with respect to orientation of the occiput and relative size of the mandible angle. The significance of these foci of change is discussed in terms of the functions of the masseter and posterior temporalis muscles. In head positions associated with feeding on short vs. tall grasses, the two skull shapes are consistent with a role for these muscles in support of a large mandible against gravity. This common factor may help to explain both shapes.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Alexander, R. M. (1985). Body support, scaling, and allometry. In:Functional Vertebrate Morphology, M. Hildebrand, D. M. Bramble, K. F. Liem, and D. B. Wake, eds., pp. 26–37, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Bookstein, F. L. (1989) Principal warps: Thin-plate splines and the decomposition of deformations.I.E.E.E Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. 11: 567–585.
Bookstein, F. L. (1990). Introduction to methods for landmark data. In:Proceedings of the Michigan Morphometrics Workshop, F. J. Rohlf and F. L. Bookstein, eds., Special Publication No. 2, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Ann Arbor.
Bookstein, F. L. (1992).Morphometric Tools for Landmark Data: Geometry and Biology: Cambridge University Press, New York.
Colbert, E. H. (1935). Siwalik mammals in the American Museum of Natural History.Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. Ser. 2 26: 177–214.
Cuvier, G. (1834).Reserches sur les Ossemens Fossiles Vol. 3. Paris.
David, B., and Laurin, B. (1996). Morphometrics and cladistics: measuring phylogeny in the sea urchinEchinocardium.Evolution 50: 348–359.
Emerson, S. B., and Bramble, D. M. (1993). Scaling, allometry, and skull design. In:The Skull Vol. 3. Functional and Evolutionary Mechanisms, J. Hanken and B. K. Hall, eds., pp. 384–421. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Flower, H. F. (1876). On some cranial and dental characters of the existing species of rhinoceros.Proceed. Roy. Soc., Lond. 1876: 443–457.
Froves, C. (1982). The skulls of Asian rhinoceroses: Wild and captive.Zoo Biol. 1: 251–261.
Groves, C. (1983). Phylogeny of the living species of rhinoceros.Z.f. zool. Syt. u. Evolutionsforschung 21: 293–313.
Hanken, J., and Hull, B. K., eds. (1993a).The Skull Vol. 1. Development, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Hanken, J., and Hall, B. K., eds. (1993b).The Skull Vol. 3. Functional and Evolutionary Mechanisms, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Heissig, K. (1989). The Rhinocerotidae. In:The Evolution of Perissodactyls, D. R. Prothero and R. M. Schoch, eds., pp. 227–276, Oxford University Press, New York.
Herring, S. (1993). Functional morphology of mammalian mastication.Am. Zool. 33: 289–299.
Herring, S., Grimm, A. F., and Grimm, B. R. (1979). Functional heterogeneity in a multipennate muscle.Am. J. Anat. 154: 563–575.
Hildebrand, M., Bramble, D. M., Liem, K. F., and Wake, D. B., eds. (1985).Functional Vertebrate Morphology, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Kurten, B. (1968).Pleistocene Mammals of Europe, Aldine Publishing, Chicago.
Laurie, A. (1982). Behavioural ecology of the greater one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis).J. Zool. Lond. 196: 307–341.
Lotus (1993). Freelance Graphics Release 4.0 for DOS. Lotus Development Corporation. Cambridge, MA.
Maddison, D. R. (1994). Phylogenetic methods for inferring the evolutionary history and processes of change in discretely valued characters.Annu. Rev. Entomol. 39: 267–292.
Meester, J., and Setzer, H. W., eds. (1971).The Mammals of Africa: An ID Manual. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
Morales, J. C., and Melnick, D. J. (1994). Molecular systematics of the living rhinoceros.Molec. Phylogen Evol. 3(2): 128–134.
Moss, M. (1968). A theoretical analysis of the functional matrix.Acta Biotheoretica 18: 194–202.
Osborn, H. F. (1903). The extinct rhinoceroses.Memoirs. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 1: 75–164.
Owen-Smith, R. N. (1988).Megaherbivores. The Influence of Very Large Body Size on Ecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.
Padian, K., Lindberg, D. R., and Polly, P. D. (1994). Cladistics and the fossil record: The uses of history.Annu. Rev. Earth Planet Sci. 22: 63–91.
Pizzaz Plus (1990). Application Technologies, Inc., Version 2.0.
Pocock, R. I. (1945). Some cranial and dental characters of the existing species of Asiatic rhinoceroses.Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 114: 437–450.
Prothero, D. R., and Schoch, R. M., eds. (1989).The Evolution of Perissodactyls, Oxford University Press, New York.
Prothero, D. R., Manning, E., and Hanson, C. B. (1986). The phylogeny of the Rhinocerotoidea (Mammalia, Perissodactyla).Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 87: 341–366.
Prothero, D. R., Guerin, C., and Manning, E. (1989). The history of the Rhinocerotoidea. In:The Evolution of Perissodactyls, D. R. Prothero and R. M. Schoch, eds., pp. 321–340, Oxford University Press, New York.
Rohlf, F. J. (1990a). Rotational fit (procrustes) methods. In:Proceedings of the Michigan Morphometrics Workshop, F. J. Rohlf, and F. L. Bookstein, eds., pp. 227–236, Special Publication No. 2, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Ann Arbor.
Rohlf, F. J. (1990b). Thin-Plate Splines, Version 11/8/90.
Rohlf, F. J., and Bookstein, F. L., eds. (1990).Proceedings of the Michigan Morphometrics Workshop, Special Publication No. 2, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Ann Arbor.
Russell, A. P., and Thomason, J. J. (1993). Mechanical analysis of the mammalian head skeleton. In:The Skull Vol. 3. Functional and Evolutionary Mechanisms, J. Hanken and B. K. Hall, eds. pp. 345–383, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Simpson, G. G., Roe, A., and Lewontin, R. C. (1960).Quantitative Zoology, Rev. Ed. Harcourt, Brace, and Company, New York.
Slice, D. E. (1990). DS-Digit: Basic Digitizing Software, Department of Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York.
Smith, K. K. (1993). The form of the feeding apparatus in terrestrial vertebrates: Studies of adaptation and constraint. In:The Skull Vol. 3., Functional and Evolutionary Mechanisms, J. Hanken and B. K. Hall, eds., pp. 150–196. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Swiderski, D. L. (1993). Morphological evolution of the scapula in tree squirrels, chipmunks, and ground squirrels (Sciuridae): An analysis using Thin-plate Splines.Evolution 47: 1854–1873.
Thompson, D. W. (1917).On Growth and Form. Cambridge University Press, London.
Warheit, K. (1992). The role of morphometrics and cladistics in the taxonomy of fossils: A paleoornithological example.Syst. Biol. 41: 345–369.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bales, G.S. Skull evolution in the rhinocerotidae (Mammalia, Perissodactyla): Cartesian transformations and functional interpretations. J Mammal Evol 3, 261–279 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01458183
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01458183