Evolution of the Alimentary System in Myomorph Rodents

摘要

The work is intended for specialists in the field of mammalian taxonomy, ecology, comparative anatomy and paleontology. The extensive material drawn for study, also yielded the possibility of arriving at certain general laws of evolution. Special attention is paid to two problems: first to homology, parallelism and convergence in the structure of the rodent alimentary system, evaluation of the applicability of N.I. Vavilov's law of homologous series of inherited variability to supergeneric taxa and secondly, to the problem of biological coordinations, unequal rates of organic transformation in one functionally-bound system and substantiation of the principle of 'compensation of functions'. This second aspect of the general biological part of this book is ideologically connected with the studies of I.I. Schmalhauzen. It seems that certain general biological problems discussed in this book may be of specific interest not only to the riologists, but also to biologists with other specialized interests in the problems of evolution.