SYSTEMATICS AND TAXONOMY OF THE SPANISH ANCHITHERIINAE, AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH REGIONAL CLIMATE CHANGES: A COMMENT ON ERONEN ET AL

• Published in: Evolution Vol. 65; no. 5; pp. 1506 - 1510
• Main Authors: Salesa, Manuel J., Sánchez, Israel M., Azanza, Beatriz, DeMiguel, Daniel, Morales, Jorge
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01.05.2011; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Adaptive radiation; Animals; Arid regions; Biodiversity; Biological Evolution; Biological taxonomies; Climate; Climate change; Climate change adaptation; Climatic zones; Equidae - anatomy & histology; Equidae - classification; Equidae - genetics; Evolution; Evolution & development; Fossils; Genetic diversity; Global climate models; Herbivory; Horses; Life-History Evolution; Miocene; Morphological Evolution; Morphology; Paleobiology; Paleoclimatology; Paleoecology; Spain; Systematics; Taxonomy; TECHNICAL COMMENT; Teeth; Tooth - anatomy & histology; Spain; Germany
• ISSN: 0014-3820; 1558-5646
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01219.x

In a recent paper, Eronen et al. (2010; hereafter EEFJ) observe differences in occlusal morphology, tooth crown height, and mesowear pattern between populations of the Miocene tridactyl equid Anchitherium from Spain and Germany, proposing that Spanish Anchitherium underwent adaptive evolution to local or regional arid conditions. However, these authors do not take into account the actual diversity of Iberian representatives of Anchitherium, or the fact that the Spanish fossils cover a wider temporal and geographical range than those from Germany. For these reasons, we suggest that their subsequent statistical work should be reconsidered.