Functional trade-offs can affect patterns of morphological and ecological evolution as well as
the magnitude of morphological changes through evolutionary time. Using morpho …

The diversity of vertebrate skeletons is often attributed to adaptations to distinct ecological
factors such as diet, locomotion, and sensory environment. Although the adaptive evolution …

Major trade-offs often manifest as axes of diversity in organismal functional systems.
Overarching trade-offs may result in high trait integration and restrict the trajectory of …

Turtles have high shape variation of their mandibles, likely reflecting adaptations to a broad
variety of food items and ingestion strategies. Here, we compare functional disparity …

Efforts to reconcile development and evolution have demonstrated that development is
biased, with phenotypic variation being more readily produced in certain directions …

The sabertooth morphology stands as a classic case of convergence, manifesting
recurrently across various vertebrate groups, prominently within two carnivorans clades …

The key role of the skull in food intake and processing implicates its morphology should be
to some extent adapted to the functional demands present in different diets, while also …

Mammals exhibit a diverse range of limb morphologies that are associated with different
locomotor ecologies and structural mechanics. Much remains to be investigated, however …

Madagascar is one of the world's foremost biodiversity hotspots with more than 90% of its
species endemic to the island. Malagasy carnivorans are one of only four extant terrestrial …

Body size is often hypothesized to facilitate or constrain morphological diversity in the
cranial, appendicular, and axial skeletons. However, how overall body shape scales with …