Life Sciences Commons^™

Osteological Identification And Morphological Comparison Of Extant Sciurids, Amber Kalinowski, Mateusz Wosik

Student Research Poster Presentations 2023

Bone elements can reveal varying characteristics for each rodent, so it is best to analyze overlapping elements between and among taxa when drawing comparative conclusions.

Fossorial animals present robust skeletons, strong scapular girdles, short fore- and hind limbs, and prominent attachment sites for muscles. In an animal that is primarily cursorial it is expected to see a slimmer forelimb because the need for strong limbs to deal with biochemical strains is not present.

Using a sample of Marmota monax (groundhog) and Tamias striatus (chipmunk), two common taxa found in northeastern Pennsylvania, we can examine the locomotory modes of these closely …