Morphological diversification of biomechanical traits: mustelid locomotor specializations and the macroevolution of long bone cross-sectional morphology.

Within Mustelidae, differences in limb function and locomotor habit influence cross-sectional traits in ways that produce patterns that may diverge from adaptive patterns exhibited by external traits (e.g., bone lengths) of the mammalian limb skeleton. These results suggest that not all the traits of a single organ evolve under a single evolutionary process and that models of trait evolution should be fit to a range of traits for a better understanding of the evolution of the mammalian locomotor system.