| Publication Type: | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication: | 1993 |
| Authors: | J. J. B., Ibáñez C. |
| Journal: | Can. J. Zool. |
| Volume: | 71 |
| Pagination: | 221-224 |
| Date Published: | 1993b |
| Keywords: | Africa, allopatric, asymmetric dental formula, Chiroptera, colonization, endemic, evolution, Gulf of Guinea, island biogeography, Mammalia, morphology, Myonycteris brachycephala, Pteropodidae, São Tomé, speciation, systematics, taxonomy, theory, zoogeography |
| Abstract: | The dental formula in heterodont mammals characteristically shows bilateral symmetry. Its expression is likely to be subject to very stong selective pressures, since it is associated with such basic functions as the acquisition and preparation of food. Here we report the exceptional finding of the first asymmetric dental formula in a heterodont mammal observed in the São Tomé Island (West Africa) frugivorous bat Myonycteris brachycephala. The asymmetry results from the absence of a lower internal incisor, occurring variably in the right or left mandible. This morphological innovation is possibly related to a developmental instability associated with the colonization by the island species. |
| URL: | Juste & Ibánez 1993b.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z93-030 |