FuncQEE-PEN Project Project ID: 00000C889 Public

261 Media · 215 Specimens · Creator: Thompson, Cody · Managed by: Lydia Thomas, Cody Thompson, Noe de la Sancha, Ashley Gorris

Computed tomography (CT) scanning will be used to provide 3D data relating to structural diversity for ca. 1,700 specimens of rodents. Rodents are among the most common but also among the most diverse mammals on the planet. They are found in virtually every terrestrial ecosystem, with species ranging from guinea pigs, to prairie dogs, kangaroo rats, flying squirrels, capybaras, lemmings, house mice, and sewer rats. Across this diversity, their bodies vary considerably in size and shape as they adapted to distinct habitats (e.g., Arctic tundra, grasslands, temperate and tropical forests), locomotion (e.g. terrestrial, arboreal, swimming, burrowing habits), feeding preferences (e.g., insectivores, granivores, herbivores, or generalists), and more. Given these vast differences, this project will provide 3D digitized data making it possible to examine and quantify the characters found in this radiation of diversity throughout the rodent tree of life. Undergraduate students at an MSI (Chicago State University) will be trained in CT-scan image processing. Please contact the appropriate collection manager regarding download requests: -MSB - Jon Dunnum (jldunnum@unm.edu) -UMMZ - Cody Thompson (cwthomp@umich.edu) All FuncQEE project questions should be directed to Noe de la Sancha (delasancha@gmail.com).