Convergence and divergence in the evolution of cat skulls: temporal and spatial patterns of morphological diversity

Background: Studies of biological shape evolution are greatly enhanced when framed in a phylogenetic perspective. Inclusion of fossils amplifies the scope of macroevolutionary research, offers a deep-time perspective on tempo and mode of radiations, and elucidates life-trait changes. We explore the evolution of skull shape in felids (cats) through morphometric analyses of linear variables, phylogenetic comparative methods, and a new cladistic study of saber-toothed cats. Methodology/Principal Findings: A new phylogenetic analysis supports the monophyly of saber-toothed cats (Machairodontinae) exclusive of Felinae and some basal felids, but does not support the monophyly of various sabertoothed tribes and genera. We quantified skull shape variation in 34 extant and 18 extinct species using size-adjusted linear variables. These distinguish taxonomic group membership with high accuracy. Patterns of morphospace occupation are consistent with previous analyses, for example, in showing a size gradient along the primary axis of shape variation and a separation between large and small-medium cats. By combining the new phylogeny with a molecular tree of extant Felinae, we built a chronophylomorphospace (a phylogeny superimposed onto a two-dimensional morphospace through time). The evolutionary history of cats was characterized by two major episodes of morphological divergence, one marking the separation between saber-toothed and modern cats, the other marking the split between large and small-medium cats. Conclusions/Significance: Ancestors of large cats in the ‘Panthera’ lineage tend to occupy, at a much later stage, morphospace regions previously occupied by saber-toothed cats. The latter radiated out into new morphospace regions peripheral to those of extant large cats. The separation between large and small-medium cats was marked by considerable morphologically divergent trajectories early in feline evolution. A chronophylomorphospace has wider applications in reconstructing temporal transitions across two-dimensional trait spaces, can be used in ecophenotypical and functional diversity studies, and may reveal novel patterns of morphospace occupation

Anyone with a Long-Face? Craniofacial Evolutionary Allometry (CREA) in a Family of Short-Faced Mammals, the Felidae

Among adults of closely related species, a trend in craniofacial evolutionary allometry (CREA) for larger taxa to be long-faced and smaller ones to have paedomorphic aspects, such as proportionally smaller snouts and larger braincases, has been demonstrated in some mammals and two bird lineages. Nevertheless, whether this may represent a ‘rule’ with few exceptions is still an open question. In this context, Felidae is a particularly interesting family to study because, although its members are short-faced, previous research did suggest relative facial elongation in larger living representatives. Using geometric morphometrics, based on two sets of anatomical landmarks, and traditional morphometrics, for comparing relative lengths of the palate and basicranium, we performed a series of standard and comparative allometric regressions in the Felidae and its two subfamilies. All analyses consistently supported the CREA pattern, with only one minor exception in the geometric morphometric analysis of Pantherinae: the genus Neofelis. With its unusually long canines, Neofelis species seem to have a relatively narrow cranium and long face, despite being smaller than other big cats. In spite of this, overall, our findings strengthen the possibility that the CREA pattern might indeed be a ‘rule’ among mammals, raising questions on the processes behind it and suggesting future directions for its study

Obesity, metabolic syndrome, impaired fasting glucose, and microvascular dysfunction: a principal component analysis approach

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We aimed to evaluate the multivariate association between functional microvascular variables and clinical-laboratorial-anthropometrical measurements.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data from 189 female subjects (34.0±15.5 years, 30.5±7.1 kg/m²), who were non-smokers, non-regular drug users, without a history of diabetes and/or hypertension, were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA). PCA is a classical multivariate exploratory tool because it highlights common variation between variables allowing inferences about possible biological meaning of associations between them, without pre-establishing cause-effect relationships. In total, 15 variables were used for PCA: body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), fasting plasma glucose, levels of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), triglycerides (TG), insulin, C-reactive protein (CRP), and functional microvascular variables measured by nailfold videocapillaroscopy. Nailfold videocapillaroscopy was used for direct visualization of nutritive capillaries, assessing functional capillary density, red blood cell velocity (RBCV) at rest and peak after 1 min of arterial occlusion (RBCV_max), and the time taken to reach RBCV_max (TRBCV_max).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 35% of subjects had metabolic syndrome, 77% were overweight/obese, and 9.5% had impaired fasting glucose. PCA was able to recognize that functional microvascular variables and clinical-laboratorial-anthropometrical measurements had a similar variation. The first five principal components explained most of the intrinsic variation of the data. For example, principal component 1 was associated with BMI, waist circumference, systolic BP, diastolic BP, insulin, TG, CRP, and TRBCV_max varying in the same way. Principal component 1 also showed a strong association among HDL-c, RBCV, and RBCV_max, but in the opposite way. Principal component 3 was associated only with microvascular variables in the same way (functional capillary density, RBCV and RBCV_max). Fasting plasma glucose appeared to be related to principal component 4 and did not show any association with microvascular reactivity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In non-diabetic female subjects, a multivariate scenario of associations between classic clinical variables strictly related to obesity and metabolic syndrome suggests a significant relationship between these diseases and microvascular reactivity.</p