Endo H, Oishi M, Yonezawa T, Rakotondraparany F, Hasegawa M
Section of Morphology, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi, Japan.
Anat Histol Embryol. 2007 Dec;36(6):413-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0264.2007.00792.x.
The forelimb muscles of the two semifossorial species of Tenrecidae (Oryzoryctinae: common rice tenrec; and Tenrecinae: streaked tenrec) were compared macroscopically with those of the unspecialized terrestrial-arboreal species, the Talazac long-tailed tenrec. The structure of the hand was also observed using three-dimensional reconstructed images from computed tomography data. The two semifossorial species had similar muscle weight ratios in the lateral and long heads of M. triceps brachii and M. teres major. A similar hand skeleton structure (in which the second, third and fourth metacarpals and phalanges act as a digging apparatus) was observed in both species. Our observations confirm that both these species have muscular-skeletal adaptations supporting fossorial locomotion. As each species belongs to a monophyletic subfamily within the Tenrecidae isolated in Madagascar, such semifossorial adaptations are assumed to have evolved convergently.
对马达加斯加猬科（稻猬亚科：普通稻田猬；马岛猬亚科：纹猬）的两种半穴居物种的前肢肌肉与非特化的陆栖 - 树栖物种——塔拉萨克长尾猬的前肢肌肉进行了宏观比较。还使用计算机断层扫描数据的三维重建图像观察了手部结构。这两种半穴居物种在肱三头肌外侧头和长头以及大圆肌的肌肉重量比方面相似。在这两个物种中都观察到了相似的手部骨骼结构（其中第二、第三和第四掌骨及指骨用作挖掘工具）。我们的观察结果证实，这两个物种都具有支持穴居运动的肌肉骨骼适应性。由于每个物种都属于马达加斯加孤立的马达加斯加猬科内的一个单系亚科，因此这种半穴居适应性被认为是趋同进化而来的。
