Myological evolution of Neotropical marsupials

Abstract

The muscular anatomy of marsupial mammals is not well explored, with descriptions of the key species Didelphis virginiana (the Virginia opossum) and a few more species described. The goal of this thesis is to (1) describe the state of art of the appendicular myology of Neotropical marsupials; (2) contribute to the existing knowledge of the group with new muscular description of rare species, and (3) to discuss the association of functional morphology and locomotion habits of those species. We observed that the appendicular myology presented several morphological variations (insertions, size, weight, quantity) that might reflect ecomorphological adaptations in the group. Some of these features, however, might be more related with a phylogenetic component. We suggest that the appendicular myology of Neotropical marsupials is more associated with their habits than their phylogenetic history, but evolutionary analysis is necessary, using the myological information provided in this study, to describe the ancestral state and the phylogenetic mapping of these information.