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Animal Sciences Commons

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Zoology

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

Diet

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Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences

Macroevolution In Microchiroptera: Recoupling Morphology And Ecology With Phylogeny, Patricia W. Freeman Jun 2000

Macroevolution In Microchiroptera: Recoupling Morphology And Ecology With Phylogeny, Patricia W. Freeman

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

No family of mammals has undergone a greater adaptive radiation than phyllostomid bats. Phylogeny combined with eco-morphological considerations of trophic structures can help understand this adaptive radiation and the evolution of Microchiroptera. Microchiropteran bats are overwhelmingly insectivorous, and constraints within the morphospace of insectivory have produced a dynamic equilibrium in bat morphologies that has persisted for 60 million years. The ability to eat fruit may be the key synapomorphy that allowed phyllostomids to escape insectivore morphospace and diversify. Although many phyllostomids have changed greatly, others that have maintained insectivory have changed little, which is equally remarkable.


Diet Of A Relict Population Of The Eastern Woodrat In Nebraska, Hugh H. Genoways, Patricia W. Freeman, Mary K. Clausen Sep 1997

Diet Of A Relict Population Of The Eastern Woodrat In Nebraska, Hugh H. Genoways, Patricia W. Freeman, Mary K. Clausen

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

The relict population of Neotoma floridana occurring along the Niobrara River in north-central Nebraska was found to have a diet composed of 38 types of food items of which 37 types were plants. Unique features of the summer diet of this population were a higher than expected use of red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) and invertebrates as food items.