Gordon M. G. Shepherd研究团队报道了啮齿类动物缩略图的进化。这一研究成果于2025年9月4日发表在国际顶尖学术期刊《科学》上。
在啮齿类动物中，研究人员发现大多数现存的属和祖先谱系都有D1指甲。例外情况发生在多次独立出现的结构-功能关联之后，具体来说，D1爪的增加与地下习性有关，D1爪的丧失与只吃口的行为有关。研究小组假设，早期获得D1钉子和手工灵巧的食物处理对啮齿动物适应性地利用颅骨特化进行有效咀嚼至关重要，从而利用坚硬的种子和坚果，这是它们在多瘤动物灭绝后占据主导地位的一个生态位。他们的研究重塑了关于啮齿动物进化的观点，并揭示了一个以前未被认识到的对它们成功辐射的贡献。
研究人员表示，四足动物的第一趾（D1，也称为拇指或pollex）的趾（蹄、爪或指甲）表现出许多功能适应，但其与生态多样性的宏观进化关系尚不清楚。
附：英文原文
Title: Evolution of thumbnails across Rodentia
Author: Rafaela V. Missagia, Anderson Feijó, Lauren Johnson, Maximilian L. Allen, Bruce D. Patterson, Paulina D. Jenkins, Gordon M. G. Shepherd
Issue&Volume: 2025-09-04
Abstract: The unguis (hoof, claw, or nail) of the first digit (D1, also known as the thumb or pollex) of the tetrapod hand exhibits numerous functional adaptations, but its macroevolutionary association with ecological diversity is unknown. Across Rodentia, we find that most extant genera and ancestral lineages bear D1 nails. Exceptions follow structure-function associations that arose independently multiple times, specifically, the gain of D1 claws with subterranean habits and the loss of D1 ungues with oral-only feeding behavior. We hypothesize that early acquisition of D1 nails and manually dexterous food handling was crucial for rodents to adaptively leverage cranial specializations for efficient gnawing and thereby exploit hard seeds and nuts, a niche that they dominated after the extinction of multituberculates. Our study recasts ideas about rodent evolution and uncovers a previously unrecognized contributor to their successful radiation.
DOI: ads7926