Silvana Rocio Moyano

• PhD/Dra.
• Researcher at National Scientific and Technical Research Council

Caviomorph rodents have presented an astonishing size variation both in the past and present times. The objective of this work is to estimate the body mass of 32 extinct caviomorphs and to analyze how several factors influence estimates: (1) the predictors selected (i.e., individual teeth and toothrows); (2) the reference sample used (i.e., rodents...

Caviomorph rodents present an astonishing variation in sizes both nowadays and in the past. The objective of this work was to estimate the body mass of 32 extinct caviomorphs. Moreover, we seek to analyse the influence on the estimations of the: i. selected predictors (i.e., measurements on cheek teeth); ii. used reference sample comparing three di...

Camelids are the only living representatives of the Suborder Tylopoda, and present a unique set of osteo-myological masticatory features, differing from all other extant euungulates. They combine selenodont dentition and rumination with a fused symphysis, and roughly plesiomorphic muscle proportions. Despite its potential relevance as an euungulate...

Cavies are one of the most-specialized grinding rodents, with folivorous and grass-based diets. Antecedents on head myology are focused mainly on domestic guinea pig. Here, we analyze three specimens of wild caviines (two of Cavia aperea and one of Galea leucoblephara), describing, illustrating, mapping, and weighing facial and masticatory muscles....

South American camelids (Lamini tribe) are represented by two genera and four species. Here we studied the skull anatomy of three of them, Lama glama, Lama guanicoe and Vicugna vicugna. The coexistence of these species in wide sectors of their distribution and the osteological homogeneity of these camelids constitute important factors that limit or...

Inquiring into the paleoecology of extinct forms is always a challenge, particularly when the taxa under study correspond to derived ecomorphs of ancient and completely extinct clades. In this contribution, the configuration of the masticatory apparatus and associated features of the Neogene pachyrukhines Paedotherium and Tremacyllus are studied in...

The caudal cranium and occipito-cervical region, although usually overlooked, are informative about the paleobiology of fossil mammals, allowing inquiry into vision and hearing abilities, as well as head and neck postures. Particularly for Pachyrukhinae, some related features remain unexplored. In this contribution, 22 specimens of Paedotherium and...

The pronghorn (Antilocapra americana (Ord, 1815)) is the single survivor of a largely extinct, isolated pecoran lineage (Antilocapridae) native to North America. We describe postnatal ontogeny of its skull in a comparative framework inclusive of representatives of other typical North American ungulate linages, all of which partially overlap in geog...

Extant hyraxes are small, rabbit-sized, herbivorous paenungulates, with a notable feeding mechanism: they crop with the molars instead of the incisors, unlike most modern hoofed mammals. We investigated the postnatal development of the skull, and their functional correlates, in two extant representative forms of hyraxes, the terrestrial grazer Proc...

Among extant hoofed mammals, only elephants and tapirs exhibit a true proboscis. We investigated the development of cranial characters potentially associated with the presence of a short proboscis in tapir species, following a comparative framework with a selection of extant and fossil hoofed mammals that exhibit modified narial structures. The cor...

Leopardus wiedii (margay) is the only arboreal Neotropical felid able to climb head-first down trees, due to its ability to rotate its tarsal joint 180°. A closely related, similar-sized species, L. geoffroyi (Geoffroy's cat) exhibits more typical terrestrial habits and lacks the arboreal capabilities of L. wiedii. There is osteological evidence th...

Skull morphology in tapirs is particularly interesting due to the presence of a proboscis with important trophic, sensory and behavioral functions. Several studies have dealt with tapir skull osteology but chiefly in a comparative framework between fossil and recent species of tapirs. Only one study examined an aspect of cranial ontogeny, developme...