Decoupling Functional and Morphological Convergence, the Study Case of Fossorial Mammalia

Abstract

The dataset is composed by 3D models of different fossorial mammals. The models have been used to perform biomechanical simulations of the digging locomotion and to collect 3D shape data. These information have been used in a phylogenetic context to provide insights about the extent of morpho-functional convergence am. ong the fossorial mammals. Results indicate that fossorial mammals evolved around multiple adaptive peaks impeding the recognition of a true convergent signal.