Marsupials indeed confirm an ancestral mammalian pattern: A reply to Isler

Weisbecker, Vera and Goswami, Anjali (2011) Marsupials indeed confirm an ancestral mammalian pattern: A reply to Isler. BioEssays: News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. ISSN 1521-1878 DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201100013

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Abstract

n a recent publication 1 (see also our recent comment in BioEssays 2), we demonstrated that marsupials are not, as frequently thought, systematically smaller-brained than placentals. We also showed that partial correlations of gestation length, weaning age, litter size, basal metabolic rate (BMR) and brain size – all adjusted for body size – differ in marsupials and placentals. The difference between these two clades consists of the existence of a partial correlation between BMR and brain size in placentals, which we did not find in marsupials. We suggested that placentals differ from what could be called an ancestral mammalian pattern (we prefer the term ancestral rather than general 3 for reasons of information content and accuracy) by having a placenta, through which increases in maternal BMR could benefit offspring brain sizes.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	2011AREP; IA62;
Subjects:	04 - Palaeobiology
Divisions:	04 - Palaeobiology
Journal or Publication Title:	BioEssays: News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201100013
Depositing User:	Sarah Humbert
Date Deposited:	26 Feb 2011 12:33
Last Modified:	23 Jul 2013 10:01
URI:	http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/id/eprint/2011

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