Evolución morfológica y ecológica de Sciuridae (Rodentia, Mammalia) durante el Cenozoico: relación con cambios climáticos globales

Squirrels are a highly diverse and widely distributed rodent family (Sciuridae), with nearly 300 species inhabiting all terrestrial biomes in the world and almost all the continents (the only exceptions being Antarctica and Australia). Also, their fossil record is well studied from their origin around 40 Myr ago, which makes them a well-suited group to study broadscale patterns of evolution with a deep-time perspective. The general aim of this doctoral thesis is to integrate phylogenetic, paleontological, morphological, and ecological information to identify the drivers of squirrels’evolution. Using recently developed methodological approaches, this thesis investigates the macroecological patterns and morphological evolution in relation to changes in the environmental conditions. In order to combine morphological data from extinct and extant species, and considering that most of the known fossil record of squirrels consists on isolated teeth, this thesis focuses on the study of morphological evolution of teeth. Particularly, the fourth lower premolar (p4), which shows interspecific morphological variation...