Dietary behaviour and competition for vegetal resources in two Early Miocene pecoran ruminants from Central Spain

Geodiversitas

Plinio Montoya¹  Jorge Morales¹  Victoria Quiralte¹  Beatriz Azanza¹  Daniel Demiguel¹ 

关键词: Ruminantia;    Andegameryx;    Procervulus;    microwear;    mesowear;    paleodiet;    paleoecology;    Ruminantia;    Andegameryx;    Procervulus;    micro-usure;    méso-usure;    paléoalimentation;    paléoécologie;   

DOI  :  10.5252/g2012n2a10

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Museum National d Histoire Naturelle

【 摘 要 】

Dietarybehaviourandcompetitionforresourcesareinvestigatedforthesmall-sizedruminantsAndegameryxGinsburg,1971andProcervulusGaudry,1877representativesoftwolargelydistinctstatesofdiversificationofpecorans.ResultsobtainedfromdentalmicrowearandmesowearmethodologiesareconcordantwithamixedfeederstrategyforthetaxafromtheEarlyMioceneenvironmentsoftheIberianChain(CentralSpain).Further,theSpanishtaxainvestigatedhadlessabrasivedietsthantheirrelativesfromotherssimilarlyagedlocalitiesinEurope.Thisfactraisesanimportantevolutionaryuncertaintyconcerningthetraditionalcharacterizationoffirstpecoransasspecializedbrowsers.Instead,datastronglycorroboratetherecentlyproposednotionthatsomePecoraruminantlineageswereabletoconsumeamixtureofbrowseandgrass,andthatwereoriginallyfacultativemixedfeeders.However,thereisalargedegreeofvariationoftheirdentalwearfeatures.Specieswerenotdependentonalimitedtypeofvegetationand,consequently,wereabletoexploitdifferentfoodresources.Dentalweardataseemtoindicatethattheseruminantsdidnotcompeteforvegetation.Inaddition,lastAndegameryxandearliestProcervulusapparentlyhadasufficientlydifferentbodysizetopartitiontheavailablevegetationintermsofheightabovegroundleveltoeludecompetition.Bodysizedifferencecoupledwithanimportantdegreeofdietaryopportunismmayhavebeenfactorsnecessaryfortheircoexistence.

【 授权许可】

Unknown