How does evolutionary evaluation illuminate body size among canids?

In this review, we examine mammalian body size as it reflects life history and genomic composition, with a primary focus on canids and the domestication of the gray wolf. The range of variation in body size is greater among Carnivora than any other terrestrial order. In the Canidae, this range is some 2 orders of magnitude.

Developmental features of the canid proximocaudal femur.

We continued direct morphological studies of the canid coxofemoral joint, considering early-life spatial relationships around the locus of the proximocaudal joint capsule insertion. Our primary goal was to elucidate the postnatal developmental gross anatomy of the proximocaudal femur, among juveniles across Canidae. From an original database of 267 independent (museum) specimens from 11 canid taxa and 1 hybrid taxon, we identified 29 ancient or modern candidate juvenile specimens (nine taxa and one hybrid taxon).

Osteoarthritis from evolutionary and mechanistic perspectives.

Developmental osteogenesis and the pathologies associated with tissues that normally are mineralized are active areas of research. All of the basic cell types of skeletal tissue evolved in early aquatic vertebrates. Their characteristics, transcription factors, and signaling pathways have been conserved, even as they adapted to the challenge imposed by gravity in the transition to terrestrial existence.