毛虫科,最多样化的新热带蝙蝠家族,包括230种具有不同饮食习惯和食物获取方法的物种。它们的摄食生态位多样化通过自然选择塑造了头骨和翅膀的形态,反映食品加工和飞行策略。然而,蝙蝠后肢的进化,尤其是在叶状造口术中,仍然很少被理解。先前的研究强调了股骨的形态作为一个关键的理解四足动物的进化在扬长龙蝙蝠,包括在吸血蝙蝠(Desmodontinae)中观察到的熟练行走。这里,我们旨在描述毛囊科的股骨形态变异,将其与体型相关联并评估系统发育史的影响,饮食习惯,和后肢的使用。通过系统发育知情方法分析9个亚科45个物种的15个股骨性状,我们在股骨形态中发现了一个显著的系统发育结构。异速分析表明,体重约占叶状股骨大小变化的85%,占股骨形状变化的11%。相对较小的股骨显示为典型的Stenopermasinae,Lonchophyllinae,和舌蝇科,与毛孔较大的股骨相反,Desmodontinae,Micronycterinae,和Lonchorgininae。此外,检测到广泛的股骨形状变化,吸血蝙蝠最独特的形态,其次是食肉物种。与饮食相关的自适应进化模型比随机模型更有效地解释了股骨相对大小和形状的变化。与蝙蝠股骨功能需求有限的传统观点相反,我们的研究结果表明,股骨形态显着影响与饮食和食物捕获相关的功能需求,除了部分由身体大小和共同的进化史构成。
Phyllostomidae, the most diverse family of Neotropical bats, encompass 230 species with varied dietary habits and food acquisition methods. Their feeding niche diversification has shaped skull and wing morphologies through natural selection, reflecting food processing and flight strategies. Yet, evolution of bat hindlimbs, especially in phyllostomids, remains little understood. Previous studies highlighted the femur\'s morphology as a key to understanding the evolution of quadrupedalism in yangochiropteran bats, including the adept walking observed in vampire bats (Desmodontinae). Here, we aimed to describe the femoral morphological variation in Phyllostomidae, correlating this with body size and assessing the effects of phylogenetic history, dietary habits, and hindlimb usage. Analyzing 15 femoral traits from 45 species across 9 subfamilies through phylogenetically informed methods, we discovered a significant phylogenetic structure in femoral morphology. Allometric analysis indicated that body mass accounts for about 85% of the variance in phyllostomid femoral size and about 11% in femoral shape. Relatively smaller femurs showed to be typical in Stenodermatinae, Lonchophyllinae, and Glossophaginae, in contrast to the larger femurs of Phyllostominae, Desmodontinae, Micronycterinae, and Lonchorrhininae. Furthermore, extensive femur shape variation was detected, with the most distinct morphologies in vampire bats, followed by frugivorous species. Adaptive evolutionary models related to diet more effectively explained variations in femoral relative size and shape than stochastic models. Contrary to the conventional belief of limited functional demand on bat femurs, our findings suggest that femoral morphology is significantly influenced by functional demands associated with diet and food capture, in addition to being partially structured by body size and shared evolutionary history.