Comparative morphology of the digestive system of 19 species of Southern African myomorph rodents in relation to diet and evolution

Abstract

Trends in digestive system-morphology have been examined in 19 species of Southern African myomorph rodents. Structure was related to function, diet, and evolution. Characters related to an ancestral proteinaceous diet, and specialized characters associated with herbivory, were recognized. All stomachs were of the unilocular hemiglandular type with increasing degrees of cornification of the corpus, although the stomach of Saccostomus compestris approached the bilocular discoglandular condition. Those of Thallomys paedulcus and Mystromys albicaudatus were highly modified in containing numerous papillae in the corpus, possibly associated with gastric fermentation. The most complex caeca, of the herbivorous Otomyids, possessed numerous haustra and internal papillae probably associated with caecal microbial fermentation.