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Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

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  • Title: The semifossorial function of the forelimb in the common rice tenrec (Oryzorictes hova) and the streaked tenrec (Hemicentetes hemispinosus).
    Author: Endo H, Oishi M, Yonezawa T, Rakotondraparany F, Hasegawa M.
    Journal: Anat Histol Embryol; 2007 Dec; 36(6):413-8. PubMed ID: 18021349.
    Abstract:
    The forelimb muscles of the two semifossorial species of Tenrecidae (Oryzoryctinae: common rice tenrec; and Tenrecinae: streaked tenrec) were compared macroscopically with those of the unspecialized terrestrial-arboreal species, the Talazac long-tailed tenrec. The structure of the hand was also observed using three-dimensional reconstructed images from computed tomography data. The two semifossorial species had similar muscle weight ratios in the lateral and long heads of M. triceps brachii and M. teres major. A similar hand skeleton structure (in which the second, third and fourth metacarpals and phalanges act as a digging apparatus) was observed in both species. Our observations confirm that both these species have muscular-skeletal adaptations supporting fossorial locomotion. As each species belongs to a monophyletic subfamily within the Tenrecidae isolated in Madagascar, such semifossorial adaptations are assumed to have evolved convergently.
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