Topic
Tachyoryctes
About: Tachyoryctes is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 34 publications have been published within this topic receiving 460 citations.
Papers
TL;DR: The burrowing behaviour and burrow patterns of the mole-rats Tachyoryctes, Heliophobius and Heterocephalus were compared and remarkable similarities were found both in the method of digging and the basic burrow pattern of the three genera.
Abstract: The burrowing behaviour and burrow patterns of the mole-rats Tachyoryctes (Family Rhizomyidae), Heliophobius and Heterocephalus (Family Bathyergidae) were compared. Remarkable similarities were found both in the method of digging and the basic burrow pattern of the three genera. Dissimilarities in burrow length can be attributed to the availability of food and the number of animals occupying one burrow system. Thus, the solitary Tachyoryctes, which eats a wide range of foods, has the shortest burrow system; while the colonial Heterocephalus, which eat a limited range of foods and live in arid regions, have very extensive burrow systems.
All the mole-rats bite at the earth face with well developed incisors; collect the excavated soil with their fore and hind feet and push it behind them. Tachyoryctes differs from the bathyergids in then turning round and using one side of its face and one fore foot to push the excavated soil along the burrow and out onto the surface. The bathyergids back up to the soil and push with their hind feet. Tachyoryctes has a multi-purpose nest chamber used for sleeping, food storage and sanitary purposes; the bathyergids have a simple nest chamber used solely for sleeping, they do not store food but instead partly expose tubers in the foraging burrows and eat pieces from them when hungry.
Differences between the bathyergids are largely attributable to their social structure; Heliophobius is solitary and Heterocephalus colonial. Digging and soil disposal are essentially similar but in Heterocephalus the various stages are taken by different members of the colony and a digging chain is established. Soil type and moisture content influence mound formation; Heterocephalus kicks out a spray of fine dry soil through an open hole. The other two mole-rats live in areas with higher soil moisture content and push out solid cores of soil.
195 citations
TL;DR: Three hypothetical modes of bone conduction are argued to represent more likely mechanisms through which mole‐rats can detect ground vibrations: ossicular inertialBone conduction, a pathway involving sound radiation into the external auditory meatus, and a newly‐described fluid pathway between pseudoglenoid fossa and cranial cavity.
Abstract: There is evidence that spalacine, tachyoryctine, and myospalacine mole-rats all communicate with conspecifics through a form of seismic signaling, but the route for the detection of these signals is disputed. It has been proposed that two unusual anatomical adaptations in Spalax allow jaw vibrations to pass to the inner ear via the incus and stapes: a pseudoglenoid (=postglenoid) fossa which accomodates the condylar process of the mandible, and a bony cup, supported by a periotic lamina, through which the incus articulates with the skull. In this study, a combination of dissection and computed tomography was used to examine the ear region in more detail in both Spalax and its subterranean relatives Tachyoryctes and Eospalax, about which much less is known. Tachyoryctes was found to lack a pseudoglenoid fossa, while Eospalax lacks a periotic lamina and bony cup. This shows that these structures need not simultaneously be present for the detection of ground vibrations in mole-rats. Based on the observed anatomy, three hypothetical modes of bone conduction are argued to represent more likely mechanisms through which mole-rats can detect ground vibrations: ossicular inertial bone conduction, a pathway involving sound radiation into the external auditory meatus, and a newly-described fluid pathway between pseudoglenoid fossa and cranial cavity. The caudolateral extension of the tympanic cavity and the presence of a bony cup might represent synapomorphies uniting Spalax and Tachyoryctes, while the loss of the tensor tympani muscle in Spalax and Eospalax may be convergently derived. J. Morphol., 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
28 citations
TL;DR: Les moments de rotation sagittale de la tete par rapport ä Taxe vertebral, calcules pour les muscles extenseurs cervicaux, sont bcaucoup plus grands chez le rat-taupe que chezLe rat noir, tandis that les moments of flexion transversale sont tres semblables.
Abstract: Description comparee des vertebres cervicales et des muscles du cou de deux rongeurs: le rat-taupe Tachyoryctes splendens et le rat noir Rattus rattus, suivie de l'e'tude quantitative du poids des muscles cervicaux et des forces que chacun d'eux exerce. Le rat-taupe a des vertebres cervicales courtes et compactes en comparaison de celles, longues et larges, du rat noir. Les poids relatifs des muscles cervicaux montrent que les muscles extenseurs sont proportionnellement plus developpes chez le rat-taupe et que les muscles lateraux sont plus developpe*s chez le rat noir. L'occiput haut chez le rat-taupe semble augmenter refficacite* des muscles occipitaux et la quantite de travail qu'ils peuvent exocuter. Les moments de rotation sagittale de la tete par rapport ä Taxe vertebral, calcules pour les muscles extenseurs cervicaux, sont bcaucoup plus grands chez le rat-taupe (0,39) que chez le rat noir (0,21), tandis que les moments de flexion transversale sont tres semblables. Le moment combine\" intervenant dans le mouvement angulaire est d'environ 0,31 chez le rat-taupe et 0,19 chez le rat-noir.
27 citations
TL;DR: Description comparative du crâne et des muscles mandibulaires et maxillaires de deux rongeurs T.s. et R.r.
Abstract: Description comparative du crâne et des muscles mandibulaires et maxillaires de deux rongeurs T.s. et R.r.
25 citations
TL;DR: The morphology of the regions studied indicates a natural grouping ofbathyergids, but one in which Heterocephalus is somewhat separate from the remaining bathyergid genera, and the grouping of bathyERGids and New and Old World hystricognath rodents into a suborder Hysticognatha is supported.
Abstract: The morphology of the hyoid, laryngeal and pharyngeal regions of the following rodent genera was studied: Cryptomys, Bathyergus, Georychus, Heliophobius, Heterocephalus, Ctenomys, Petromus, Thryonomys, Geomys, Cannomys, and Tachyoryctes. A number of morphological conditions unique to bathyergids, and associated with the use of the head and lower incisors in burrowing are described. The conditions include the formation of functional complexes of MM. sterno-geniohyoideus and omo-mylohyoideus, the presence of a unique deep oblique part of M. transversus mandibulae and a strong separate slip of M. platysma myoides pars mentalis. The hyoid skeleton is modified to allow the muscle complexes to act independently of the basihyal bone, and to allow the unusually protrusible tongue to be withdrawn. The nerves of the jugular foramen do not form a true pharyngeal plexus, and their configuration is influenced by the absence of a well developed internal carotid artery in hystricognaths. The morphology of the regions studied indicates a natural grouping of bathyergids, but one in which Heterocephalus is somewhat separate from the remaining bathyergid genera. The grouping of bathyergids and New and Old World hystricognath rodents into a suborder Hystricognatha is supported.
24 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 2 |
| 2020 | 3 |
| 2018 | 2 |
| 2017 | 3 |
| 2016 | 1 |
| 2014 | 3 |