Forme et fonction : modularité, disparité et performance de l'appareil manducateur de Crocidura russula (Soricomoprpha, Soricidae)

The form of a bone results from many genetic, developmental and adaptive processes. This study aims to work with the form in descriptive, comparative and functional approaches to highlight morpho-functional (evolutionary) patterns with a specific focus on islands. The feeding apparatus of Crocidura russula is a good example of a highly integrated structure particularly sensitive to selection pressures related to diet. Indeed, C. Russula is a generalist consumer whose spectrum of prey diversity and size is extremely varied. Morphometry currently offers methods, sliding-landmarks in 2D and 3D, to describe anatomical areas poorly studied because they posses few or no anatomical landmarks. This study showed that the form of these areas has, however, great descriptive potential at the specific and populationel levels. Moreover, this approach is capable of detecting a distinct functional signature that informs the selective pressures driving the observed variation in form.